Jade Green Eyes
by Jendra
Summary: Harry found a way to hide from a world that wanted too much from him.  Crossdressing, Harry/Lucius slash Sequel to Mythic Alliance  don't need to read it first
1. Chapter 1 and 2

Sorry! Sorry! I meant to have this up yesterday but I didn't realize it was Monday!

Welcome to Jade Green Eyes. I got the idea for this story after reading Harry Potter and the Daughter of Malfoy years ago. I have no idea *why* it caused this idea to come into my head, but it did to such an extent that I wrote a part a day for the first month, then did a part every two days for the rest of it. I've never written like that before or since. This story is finished on my yahoogroup, Jendrafic, at 80 parts (in 20 part chunks). I will be posting it in more than one part at a time, but how much depends on where I think it ends well.

**Warnings – **you should have already read this, but I'm saying it again. This fic will contain crossdressing. It will also contain Harry/Lucius slash. It will *not* contain graphic sex scenes, even though it is marked M. If you want to read that you have to go to my yahoogroup. There will be Dumble bashing and obsessive!Ginny. There will be father/mentor Severus and best friend!Draco.

This is the sequel to Mythic Alliance but was written first, so some things don't quite match up. I will be working on that and trying to get them more in line with each other. Someone had just pointed out a few items that were left out and I'm deciding if I want to add them or not. So there *will* be slight differences between this one and the complete one, occasionally. I will update the one on my list, if necessary, every twenty parts, so I can update only one section at a time.

If you think you've seen this before, that is because it was plagiarized on this site a few months ago. It has thankfully been removed since that time.

I do not own Harry Potter. Really, I don't. I don't make any money off of my use of Harry Potter or any of his friends.

Reviews are welcome, flames are not.

Jade Green Eyes

By Jendra

Part 1/?

A young witch strolled down the middle of Diagon Alley. Her long black hair floated around her shoulders and her bright green eyes danced with delight. About sixteen years of age, small and slender, she window shopped happily, ignoring the teenaged, and sometimes older, boys who were watching her lustfully.

Many sighs were given as her entire face lit up and she started running towards someone. The sighs of longing turned to ones of disappointment as those watching saw her run up and grab the arm of a blond teenaged wizard. Especially considering just *who* the blonde was.

"Drake!" she squealed, albeit quietly.

Draco Malfoy glared at the barnacle on his arm as he tried to figure out who it was. Another groupie, no doubt, but this one didn't look familiar and wasn't at all unsettled by the fact she was grabbing the scion of one of the richest, most important and most dangerous of the wizarding families of Britain. Ever since he and his father had helped Potter defeat Voldemort, he'd had to put up with random attacks of giggling girls convinced that since he was on the side of 'Good' he couldn't possibly be as bad as people had said. He enjoyed showing them differently. By now, over six months since the Dark Lord's defeat, most had gotten the message and would leave him alone. This one however...

"Don't you recognize me Drake?" the girl asked, smiling up at him.

Draco took a long look at the witch on his arm. She was at least half a foot smaller than his own 5' 10", slender but lithe with long, wavy black hair and green eyes. Jade green eyes. Familiar jade green eyes. And just how many people called him Drake, anyway? He looked at the top of her forehead, but there was nothing there. Still, another look at the laughing green eyes and the smile he'd seen only a couple of times before, solidified the amazing thought. "Harry?" he wanted to shout, but whispered instead.

"Yes, Drake?" the black haired youth grinned back at him.

"How... why?" For once the young Slytherin was at a loss for words.

"Who's your companion, Draco?" a smooth voice interrupted. The twosome turned quickly, gazing into the visage of Lucius Malfoy.

"Father," Draco said hesitatingly. "This is... um..."

"Jade, Mr. Malfoy," the witch, who was a wizard, smiled brightly.

Lucius Malfoy swept a gaze over the girl in front of him. The green silk shirt she was wearing was only a shade darker than her brilliant green eyes, while the black, knee length skirt had the color, but none of the luster of her hair. Black, high heeled ankle boots added at least an inch to her height, while the discreet jewelry and make up added a touch more sophistication. He had to admit the clothes were simple, tasteful and elegant even if they were Muggle. The only wizarding touch was the cloak clasped at her neck and swirling down only slightly past the end of her skirt. He took another moment to look at her face, high cheekbones and a determined chin backed up a look in her eyes that said she was no one to be messed with. Her features were too strong to be conventionally pretty, instead she had a beauty that would last as she grew older, with no glamour spells required. He could see what his son might see in her, if he was interested in that gender he might make a try for her himself. Time to find out more about this possible future daughter-in-law.

"I don't believe I've met you before, and I know Draco hasn't mentioned you. Do I know your family?" he asked smoothly.

She grinned cheekily at him. "Of course we've met before Mr. Malfoy, and I'm sure that Drake here has mentioned me at least a time or two, haven't you?"

Draco nodded, starting to enjoy this surreal event. "Of course I have," he agreed. "Times too numerous to mention in fact."

"Really, Mr. Malfoy, trying to get your son in trouble like that," she shook her head. "Come on, Drake, you can buy me an ice cream and I'll tell you what's been going on this summer." With that the witch, or was it wizard? grabbed the still bewildered boy by the arm and dragged him off into the depths of Diagon Alley.

Part 2/?

Draco waited until they were sitting at an out of the way table with their ice cream concoctions before he struck. "So, Har..." A glare from his companion made him hastily close his mouth before he started again. "So, *Jade*, I didn't realize my turning you down would have such an impact. Really, turning yourself into a girl just because I happen to prefer them wasn't necessary."

Harry's husky laughter turned heads all over the store. Draco's glare turned them all back to their own businesses. "Really, Drake," Harry shook his head in exasperation. "Not everything has to do with you or with magic, you know. I didn't *turn* myself into a girl, I'm just dressing like one. As for dating you, only in your dreams. Now your father..." Harry let his voice trail off and put an exaggerated moonstruck look on his face. Not that he *didn't* think about Lucius Malfoy like that. The older man was gorgeous, sexy, powerful and dangerous; all good things as far as he was concerned. There was no way most of the boys his age were interesting enough for him, beyond their age and school, they had nothing in common with him. They didn't understand the pain he'd gone through. They never would.

Lucius Malfoy, on the other hand, did have the capacity to understand him and empathize with his life. He knew the darkness intimately, yet it hadn't truly tainted him as it had others, such as Voldemort. Draco might have been a good boyfriend if he hadn't been straight, but the other boys at Hogwarts... forget it. Of course, Harry also had to admit that he just preferred older men, though he refused to even think about it as a daddy complex; boys were just too immature for him.

Draco glared at him. "I am not calling you Mom."

Harry laughed again. "Don't worry, son. I don't think it's very likely."

"Now I didn't say that," Draco grinned. "The only reason Father and Mother married was to get an heir; you're much more his type than she was. I've known about his male lovers for years."

Harry's eyes darkened. "Oh, really?" he purred.

Draco found himself shifting in his chair. He might *know* that Harry was a guy, but he was *looking* at a girl and with that voice... He shook his head to clear his mind. He *wasn't* going to go there. "You never did explain why you're dressed as a girl, *Jade*. Not to mention how you're pulling it off so well."

Harry finished the last of his ice cream and settled back in his chair. "What do you notice?" he asked, pointing to the people around him.

Draco ostentatiously took a look around. "Guys think you're hot? But I didn't think you were *that* hard up for dates."

Harry glared. "Do you, by any chance, remember the last time I was in Hogsmeade?"

Draco lowered his eyes to the table. He did. Everyone did. If he thought his fame was a little difficult to handle sometimes, it was nothing, absolutely *nothing* compared to that of The-Boy-Who-Lived-to-Kill-Voldemort. The last time Harry had dared to show his face in the wizarding world, there had been a riot. Everyone wanted to see him, talk to him, *touch* him. A

number of people had gotten trampled in the rush, and Harry himself had been sent to the hospital with numerous bruises and scratches.

Draco looked at the boy dressed as a girl sitting across from him and understood. He had seen the devastation in Harry's eyes after that incident, the knowledge that he would never be left alone by the world he had saved, that others would *still* be getting hurt because of him. It had come very close to breaking him. Now, however, the eyes looking back at him were different. Bright, happy. He'd found a way to hide, without having to isolate himself from a world he loved. Draco smiled. "I understand."

A moment of silence passed between the two. "How did it come about?"

Harry smiled. "This year..." he shook his head with a smile. "Thanks to Severus' advice, this year went so much better."

/Flashback/

"I don't want to have to see your face this summer. And that hair is going to be coming off. Only sissy boys wear their hair that long. Are you a sissy boy?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Why couldn't you have stayed at that freak school of yours?" Vernon grumbled as he got out of the car.

"I asked, but they said no. And I like my hair." Harry answered. "But, I don't have to stay at the house all day anymore. I'll make a deal with you, Uncle Vernon. Let me have the room I've been in to get my mail, lock it from the outside and keep it that way, though I will take the bars off, and you won't see me all summer. No one will ever see me go into or out of the house and no one in the house will have to deal with me, at all. I will also make sure none of my friends show up at the house."

"There won't be any of those freaks in my house!" Vernon roared.

"The evil wizard who'd been trying to kill me is dead." Harry's voice was hard, and looking at him Vernon found himself suddenly, slightly, worried. His meek little freak of a servant had suddenly been replaced by a dangerous young wizard. "That means that I don't have to worry about my friends leading Voldemort to me, so there's nothing keeping them away. Either you agree to let me go my own way and never have to deal with me, or I won't send my friends notes."

"You won't send them letters? Why should I be afraid of that?" Vernon glared.

After getting used to Severus Snape's glares, Vernon's didn't even rate a wince. "Simple, uncle. I told all of my friends that there was going to be a big party here, at your house, in a week. If you don't do it my way, I won't write the notes to cancel it. Just imagine, thirty or more, teenaged wizards and witches, here, at your house." Harry smirked.

By this time they were inside the house. Vernon grabbed the young boy and shook him. "Don't you threaten me! There will be no freaks in this house! I won't stand for it! You write those letters, and you do it now, then it'll be into the cupboard for the rest of the summer!"

"If you don't agree, I've got some more people I can invite, you know. After all, it had been only my year and a few select others, but there are six more years worth of students at Hogwarts. And I will not cancel it unless I get that room, got it?"

"Oh, you'll get your room," Vernon growled. "But you can forget about getting the bars off, or about coming out... ever!"

He dragged Harry up to the spare room and threw him in, locking all of the deadbolts and padlocks behind him before rushing off to get more. No way would that freak get out. While he was at it, he'd get some more locks for the front door. Have those abnormal people come to *his* completely normal house? Not if he had anything to say about it.

Left behind in the room, Harry smiled. It might not have seemed like it, but he got everything he wanted, and just because he actually, for once, put some thought into it first... with a little help. It might be illegal for underage wizards to do magic, but not for them to have magic things. As long as Muggles didn't see them, enchanted objects were fine and he'd packed a number.

First he placed a magical lock on the inside of the door that only he could open. With it on, it wasn't even possible to break down the door. That would keep others from coming into the room. Another trip to the trunk and he came back with an EverSharp knife, the kind that would cut through anything except flesh. It took only moments to slice through the bars at the windows. While Vernon pounded at the door, Harry grabbed several more items and got ready to go. He got on his broom, covered himself with his Invisibility Cloak and headed out the window, stopping only to cover it with another version of lock. This one would make sure that no one except him could get in the window. With that all done, he headed out on his own for the first time.

Finding an out of the way alley near what looked like some good clothing stores, he set down. The broom and cloak went into a small bag that automatically shrank anything put into it. Making sure he had the Muggle money he had Hermione get exchanged at Gringotts for him, he looked down at his scruffy clothes and headed for the stores.

Harry wandered slowly through the racks of clothes, occasionally touching one, or pulling something down to look at it. Now that he could buy his own clothes, finally get something

that fit and felt good, he couldn't decide what to get. He didn't really want to go overboard, but nothing seemed quite right.

"Can I help you?" The words from behind sent him spinning around defensively.

It had been six months since he, Draco, Severus and Lucius had come up with the plan that got rid of Voldemort. Everyone else might have been expecting a big war with lots of casualties but with three and a half Slytherins working on it, cunning was the order of the day. Maybe what was in effect an assassination wasn't what people were expecting of the Golden Boy of Hogwarts, but it worked. And thanks to Lucius and Severus' work behind the scenes, most of the Death Eaters had quietly faded into the background. As Severus had once put it: "Think about those of us who are Voldemort's inner circle, me, Lucius, Wormtail, Nott and MacNair. When Voldemort came to power 20 years ago, we were teenagers. We might have said that we joined because we hated Muggles, or wanted to learn things that were forbidden, but the fact is, we were teenagers and we were rebelling, and since we were teenagers we were rebelling in the biggest possible way. By the time we realized we were wrong, we'd already signed away our souls. Most of us have grown up since then. Given a choice of getting out without having to worry about either Voldemort or the Ministry, most will take it. Not everyone, because some are fools, but most Death Eaters are simply too fearful of the Dark Lord not to show up and follow his orders. Kill him and they'll go back to their lives without even considering getting revenge. Most would probably even thank whoever did it." Severus had been right, as usual.

Harry shook the memories out of his head and looked at the person who was waiting patiently for an answer. Standing there was a salesperson in her late teens or early twenties with 'Jeri' written on her nametag. About 5' 7", brown hair in a cute pageboy type style, blue eyes a little worried, though a smile curled the corner of her mouth. Harry found himself smiling back.

"I've finally come into some of my parents' money, which means I don't have to wear my cousin's hand-me-downs anymore," he scowled down at his clothes. "But I'm not sure what to get."

The worry left the saleslady's eyes. This wasn't a homeless person trying to steal something as some of the other salespeople had thought. It was just a teen allowed to make his own choices for the first time and a little overwhelmed with all the possibilities. "Well, what do you want out of your clothes? Do you want to look sophisticated, dangerous, normal or whatever?"

Harry thought for a long moment, looking around. "I want... clothes that feel good, not scratchy or overlarge, like these. I want to look nice... but I don't want to look like me."

"You don't want to look like you? That's a little unusual, most people like buying clothes to make themselves look like themselves, if you know what I mean." She looked a little closer at him. "Do you not want to be you?"

Harry shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I don't mind being me, I just wish that other people didn't know I was me."

"I don't understand," Jeri said softly.

Harry sighed. "My name's Harry Potter. I know that doesn't mean anything to you, but"

Jeri held up her hand. "Actually, it does. My last boyfriend was part of your group so I've heard about you. More than I wanted, if you don't mind me being truthful."

Harry chuckled. "Not at all. More than I wanted too. But you see what I mean?"

"Yep. So you want something that feels good, looks good, but doesn't make you look like Harry Potter, right?"

"Exactly."

Over the next three hours, the two became good friends. They found clothes that he liked that would work for school, silks, cashmeres and light cottons, tailored and soft; but couldn't agree on a type of clothes that would adequately disguise him for the summer or on shopping trips. He needed something that would be distracting enough that people would look at his clothes, and not at his face. Goth or punk might have worked but not only were they not something that Harry cared for, not being nice enough fabrics for one thing, but he also didn't want to deal with more people fearing he was going to become the next Dark Lord if he did start dressing like that. And it would happen. People had proven they were too fickle when it came to him for it not to.

Finally Jeri sat Harry down and stood looking at him. "I want to try something, do you trust me?"

Harry watched her for a long moment. "When it comes to clothes at least," he grinned slightly.

"This is going to seem a little strange, but you've got the body for it. Just try it okay?"

"Are you going to tell me what 'it' is?" Harry asked.

She shook her head. "Go into the dressing room, I'll bring it to you there. Just... keep an open mind, okay?"

Harry's curiosity was fully engaged. His curiosity always had been his weak point. Without another word, he went back to the dressing room and stripped down to his underwear. He had gotten over being embarrassed at changing in front of Jeri in the first hour.

When Jeri entered the dressing room, Harry just stared. Before he could open his mouth, she raised her hand. "You promised to trust me and try, remember?"

"But... but..."

"Harry, do you like the way I look?" Jeri asked.

"Well, yeah, you've got good taste," Harry admitted.

"I'm a guy," she... he admitted. "My name *is* Jeri, but it's J E R R Y. My boss just prefers I spell it like this so I don't freak out the customers."

Harry looked her... him over closely. He still couldn't see anything that would give a hint that this wasn't a 100% woman in front of him. "I thought cross dressers were all..." he hesitated, "you know."

"You mean like drag queens? Those are just the ones you see on TV, the ones that get attention. There are a lot, just like me, that just like to dress like women. I don't have any interest in actually *being* a woman. I don't want to get an operation or anything. I just prefer wearing these kinds of clothes. For the most part, women's clothes are prettier and feel nicer than men's."

Harry thought that over. "Isn't that lying though?"

"How so?" Jeri/Jerry asked. "I don't actually tell anyone that I'm a female. The assumptions they make are just that... assumptions. And you know what people say about assumptions." While she talked she had moved forward and slid a white peasant blouse over his head. "It is better to let people assume, though. Although for the most part, men will treat you nicer if they think you're a girl, if they find out differently, they can get very mad." She switched topics. "If you do find you like this, I'd suggest either a padded bra or a special prosthetic that you can buy. Though there might be something better among your group."

"I wouldn't have a clue who to ask," Harry admitted as he let her... him pull a skirt a few shades darker than tan down over his hips. He also decided to continue thinking of her... him as Jeri, a girl. That was what she looked like after all, and it'd be easier on his overloaded brain. A leather belt and brown sandals completed the clothes part of the transformation at which time Jeri pulled out a make-up case.

Harry backed up. "I don't know..."

"Oh come on, we've gone this far," Jeri wheedled. "Besides, the thing make-up is best for, is cover ups. Not just of unsightly blemishes, but scars as well."

That silenced Harry and he sat patiently as Jeri worked on his face. Some quick work with a brush and she finally allowed him to stand up and took him out to look at himself in the trifold

mirrors just outside the dressing room.

Harry stared.

And gulped.

And stared some more.

Slowly, he turned around, and watched in disbelief as the girl in the mirror did as well.

Yes, the girl was a little flat chested, but that was the only sign that the person in the mirror might not be the girl he looked like. He held up his bangs. There was no sign that a scar resided on his forehead. That was perhaps the biggest miracle of all.

Jeri walked around him, nodding approvingly. "The only real problem is the hair on your legs. And if you do decide to do this, you'll need special underwear."

"I don't want big breasts," Harry said, not realizing what his words implied.

Jeri let it go. "Of course not. With your build and as small as you are you could easily make do with A cups. Much bigger and you'd just look top heavy. Not only would they look fake, you'd also get a lot of offers I don't think you want. Why guys seem to think a woman with big breasts automatically wants sex or is a slut, I don't know."

"Also, just in case you were wondering, cross dressing does not imply that you're gay. I don't remember the numbers, but I do remember reading once that there are many straight people

that like to cross dress as well."

Harry grinned. "That's not a problem, I've known I prefer guys for almost a year." He looked at himself once more. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Just try. You're not afraid, are you?" Jeri smirked.

Harry smirked right back, and he had had an expert to learn from. "I haven't been goaded into something like that since Draco dared me to try and turn one of my professor's hair red and gold."

"Did you?" Jeri grinned.

"Of course I did, ended up in detention for a month for it, and he got it turned back before anyone else saw it, but I managed to do it."

"You can do this too."

"But do I want to? This could... will... change everything."

"Only if you like it." Jeri made him face the mirror and stood behind him. "What do you see?"

"Two pretty girls," Harry whispered.

"And how do you feel?"

Harry took a long look into his eyes brightened by eyeshadow. "I... I don't know."

/End Flashback/


	2. Chapter 3, 4 and 5

I loved all of the reviews I received for the first part of this fic! Thank you so much. I'm glad you all liked it. And I hit 260 reviews on Mythic! I'm happy ^_^. Oh, I forgot to mention in the first chapter, I update every Monday and Thursday... unless I forget what day it is. Disclaimers in chapter one.

Still warnings for crossdressing, and also one more that I'm not sure if it needs to be warned for or not... so I'm going to put it on the bottom, just in case.

Here's chapters 3-5.

Jade Green Eyes

by Jendra

Part 3/?

"You obviously decided to stick with it." Draco murmured.

Harry nodded. "Jeri introduced me to some friends of hers and they convinced me to do it for a week, non-stop. I found out that I really liked it. I love the way the clothes feel on me. I love the way they make me feel. And I'm much happier as Jade Lilith Jameson than I've ever been as Harry James Potter."

"What are you going to do when school starts?" Draco asked.

Harry sighed. "Put my dresses and make up away until next summer, I guess. Going to school as a girl would pretty much ruin it as a disguise. I'll live. It's been six months, surely they'll get over it soon."

Draco just sneered.

"Yeah, I know." Then Harry shook his head, and that bright smile appeared again. That smile that Draco had already seen more times today than in the entire year that they had been friends. "But right now, no one but you knows who I am. I can go anywhere, do anything. I'm free."

"What about those Muggles you live with? What do they think of this?"

"Like promised, they haven't seen me since summer began. I still sleep in the spare room, but it's secure so that they can't get in, I just fly up to the window and let myself in, then back out again the next morning. I find a cafe to eat in then spend most of the day at the Muggle library, or come down here to the bookstore. Now that I don't have to worry about Voldemort anymore, I'm trying to find something that really interests me. It's time to start thinking about what I'm going to do when I graduate, so I've been learning lots."

"Figure anything out?" Draco got up and held out his arm automatically, as he would to any lady of his acquaintance. He didn't even realize what he'd done until Harry started laughing. He started to lower it, but Harry grabbed hold before he could, and the two of them walked out, arm in arm.

"Not really. There's a lot more to magic than I ever guessed, even after the extra lessons Severus gave us last year."

"What about Quidditch?"

Harry shook his head. "I enjoy it because I love to fly and I enjoy competing, but I don't want it to be my life. I could no more live without flying than you can, but using my wings is even more enjoyable, don't you agree?"

Draco laughed as they wandered down the street. "You know I do. There's absolutely nothing like being up there at the mercy of the air currents. No magic, no thought, just pure flight, the wind catching under your wings, taking you up, ever higher until the atmosphere can no longer hold your weight."

Harry had a far away look in his eyes and a gentle smile on his face. "Sometimes I'd dream of just flying off. It didn't matter where, just... away. And never coming back."

"I haven't seen you out flying for a while." Draco questioned subtly.

Harry shook his head, his eyes now filled with regret. "After that last incident, I found myself with another dream. I dreamed I flew up as high as I could... and then let myself fall."

Draco's eyes went wide in disbelief. He grabbed Harry's hand off his arm and dragged him into a nearby alcove. Once there, he pushed the other boy up against the side of the alley. "You what?" he whispered, only his years of training in not making a scene kept his voice from rising. "Are you telling me you thought about killing yourself?"

"Is there a problem here?" Lucius smooth voice inserted itself between them once again.

"Not at all, Father. I'm simply waiting for an answer to my question." Draco's voice, eyes and demeanor were still completely fixed on the girlish boy in front of him.

"You asked why I stopped flying, I told you. Obviously it never got beyond thoughts because I handled it." Harry's voice was sharp. He did not want to get into this here.

"Has it ever gone beyond thoughts?" Draco was still completely intent on him, his silver eyes holding his friend's jade green ones. When Harry's eyes dropped away, the blonde haired boy cursed sibilantly. He grabbed Harry's chin, ignoring his father's word of warning, and forced it up until their eyes met once more. "Was it *Him* or *them*?"

Harry sighed, mournfully. "Both," he whispered. "Last summer."

"That's it. You're coming home with us." Draco's voice was hard and commanding. He didn't even bother to ask his father's permission.

"Draco! I'm fine!" His voice softened as he saw the worry in the silver gray eyes watching him. "I really am."

Lucius watched the two in front of him with confusion hidden behind his well controlled face. For his son to be so worried about this girl meant she was important to him. Yet why hadn't he ever heard of her? And what were they talking about?

"Draco, if she doesn't want to come with us, you can't make her. Besides, what about her family? Won't they be worried about her?" the older man asked, trying to get through to his son. Draco, however, seemed to be ignoring his training as a Malfoy and allowing emotion to have free reign.

Draco glared at his father, a glare obviously learned from a certain potions professor. "Weren't you listening, Father? She just admitted that her family was part of the reason she tried to kill herself last year! And she's admitted that she thought about it not too long ago!"

"Draco!" Harry screeched. He couldn't believe what his friend had just said. Draco had no right telling *anyone* else about that. Especially not his father! The only good thing was that he'd used the female pronouns when talking about him. He'd planned on having a little fun with Lucius before telling him who he was.

Draco looked into furious jade eyes and paled. He, more than almost anyone, knew exactly what Potter was capable of, and he'd just made him very, very mad. Then he gathered up his courage and glared right back. He was right in this instance. Harry was his best friend, one of only three people that he truly trusted. He was *not* going to let this go. Harry was going to be where he could keep an eye on him, and that was that. His glare turned into an evil grin as he suddenly had a thought.

With a twinkle in his storm gray eyes he leaned forward and whispered in the other boy's ear. "This way you get to spend a lot of time with my dad."

Lucius watched intently as the black haired girl calmed down with whatever words his son had spoken. Once sure that she had herself under control, he spoke. "My son is correct. If your home life is that bad, you're better off elsewhere."

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm fine, truly. Things were bad, yes, but that was then. I've learned how to deal with it, and it's not something you need to worry about."

Lucius' eyes got, if possible, even more intent and a frown came to his face. "Give me your arms."

"What?"

"Now child." Lucius' voice was commanding and Harry found himself trying to contain a shiver. What that voice could do to him. He suddenly realized that his hands were within the older man's grasp. Obviously what his voice could do to him was make him do whatever he said. Oh, the possibilities. He shivered again.

The elder Malfoy carefully perused the limbs within his hands. He didn't understand why he was reacting this way, this was a *girl*. And one his son's age as well. His body didn't seem to care and he had to take extra care to make sure it was not seen. His son would not understand.

"What are you looking for, Mr. Malfoy?" Harry's voice hitched, as those warm large hands kept control of his own. He knew he was far from fragile, years of being on a broom, not to mention all the house work he had done, had made sure his hands were much stronger than most would suspect, but they *felt* fragile being held so carefully by the older man.

"You said that you have learned to *deal* with it. I'm just making sure that *dealing* with it does not involve harming yourself."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy, I'm not cutting myself or anything. Self-mutilation is not my thing."

"Hmm," was all Lucius answered. He didn't seem to realize he was still holding the other's hands. Draco, however, did see, just as he'd seen Harry's reactions to his father touching him in the first place. What he'd said to Harry about a possibility of him and Lucius getting together was seeming more likely. He knew he should have minded. After all, Harry was his age. It would make his father almost a pedophile. Then he shook that thought away. No, Harry wasn't young, not where it counted, and if they got together, age would have nothing to do with it. Harry really needed someone to take care of him, someone who didn't see the savior of the wizarding world. As for his father, he had a lot of love to give and only Draco currently around to receive it. His mother had certainly never cared for anything about his father except his name and fortune. Arranged marriages sucked. He was so glad his father had already said he wouldn't force Draco into one.

He cleared his throat loudly and grinned as they quickly dropped each other's hands. "So? Can she come with us, or not?"

Harry shook his head. "I've already told you it's not necessary. I can take care of myself. Besides I'm supposed to spend at least enough time at *their* place that I'm still shown as living there. They are still my guardians, unfortunately."

"Let me deal with that," Lucius said darkly. "Do you need anything from there?"

Harry shook his head and held up the pouch on his belt. "I found a hold-all in my vault. I don't leave anything important over there anymore. Even if I've got barriers up to keep them out, I still don't trust them around my stuff."

"Probably a good thing. Do you need anything else from here?"

Harry thought for a moment. "I could probably use some more books."

Draco laughed. "We're going to the Manor. You didn't think that perhaps we had a library there?"

Harry blushed. "I didn't think about it."

"Let's go then."

Part 4/?

The next two days passed easily and, to Draco, almost surreally. Harry was an almost perfect girl from looks to mannerisms. That wasn't something that could be learned in simply three weeks, was it? Lucius was confused as well; the girl Jade sometimes seemed to be shyly flirting with him, even though he'd made his disinterest clear. He should have been disinterested. He'd not been interested in a lover of the female variety without the help of a potion since he'd learned what fun boys were. The fact that this young girl could stir his body was something he still did not understand.

Harry knocked on Draco's door. "Come in," Draco called.

"Hey, Drake, I've got a problem."

"Well, come tell your big brother all about it. Does it have anything to do with my father?"

"Actually, no. It's my clothes."

Draco looked at him, surprised. "What about them?" He looked over the textured blue sweater and blue and green broomstick skirt his friend was wearing. "They look fine to me."

"Well of course they look fine, I've got good taste. The problem is I'd been borrowing clothes from Jeri and her friends. I didn't want to buy more than three sets at the beginning in case I didn't decide to stick with it. Since all three are mix and match, it was fine. However, living here, I don't feel right wearing the same clothes twice in a week."

"So... what do you need?" Draco didn't understand.

"I need to go shopping. That means I need to leave the Manor grounds. So I need either the Floo opened or a portkey. Unless, of course, you don't want me to come back."

Draco grabbed a pillow and whacked his friend across his head. That was the only answer truly necessary. "Just opening the Floo wouldn't work, the Manor is warded so that only a person with Malfoy blood or accompanying the Master of the Manor can enter. Just like he's the only one who can Apparate to or from the grounds of the Manor itself."

"So I have to talk to your father about getting a portkey?" That wasn't a problem.

"Actually..." Draco smirked cunningly. "If you do it right, you might be able to get him to take you. And I know just the thing." He ran off.

It was almost fifteen minutes later that he returned. He was grinning wildly and Harry started to worry. "I used to explore all over the Manor when I was a kid, remind me to show you around all the fun places later. Anyway, I remembered that I had seen this in one of the rooms down by the pool."

Harry perked up. "You have a pool? Where you can go swimming?"

"Of course we do. I'll show it to you, I promise. But later." He held up his prize and Harry looked at it, wide eyed.

"You want me to wear that?" he squeaked.

*That* was an almost scandalously short kimono style robe. It was in deep, emerald green with silver snakes patterned upon it. In large scale on the back and in smaller scale on the front left was the Malfoy family crest.

"Look, it's perfect," Draco urged. "It's short enough you can show off your legs, which are shaped well for either gender, but it's long enough that nothing *but* your legs show. And there's nothing wrong with showing off your legs, now is there?"

Harry still stared at the robe, but shook his head slightly to answer the question. "I guess not."

"I know not. Go down for dinner wearing that. Tell Father that you got the clothes you wore today dirty and had forgotten to give the others to the house elves, so you didn't have anything to wear. He will be *begging* you to let him take you shopping before very long, I guarantee."

"I thought he didn't care for girls, you know, that way."

"He doesn't," Draco agreed easily. "But he's responding too you. I don't know if he subconsciously knows you're a boy, or and I think it's more likely, subconsciously knows you're Harry. I do know it's confusing him though."

"Maybe I should tell him then. I do have boy clothes after all."

Draco shook his head immediately. "Are you having fun?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, I am."

"Are you hurting anyone?"

Harry looked at him. "I don't really see how I could be."

"Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"Those are the important ones. You might be confusing my father, but you're also stimulating him, I mean mentally, get those pervert ideas out of your head. You're having fun, and I firmly believe he is too, even if he'd never admit it. You are going to have to tell him sometime, but not yet. You'll know when the time comes."

"When? Ten minutes after he finds out for himself?"

"Hey, if that's the right time, then that's the right time." Draco and Harry smirked at each other in perfect accord. "Now, about this robe..."

Five minutes later, Harry came back into the room, voice first. "I will get you for this, Draco Torian Malfoy."

Draco looked up, expecting to be amused. He wasn't. "Oh... dear... Salazar... I knew you'd look good, but I had no freaking idea," he breathed out in an almost worshipful tone. "If I didn't know you were really a guy, I'd be asking for your hand in marriage right now... or at least for the password to your bedroom." He got up and walked around the suddenly blushing boy, looking at him from all angles.

The kimono was short, very short, stopping at almost the very top of his upper thighs. For such a petite person, in this get up his legs seemed to go on forever, well muscled and tanned, sleek and supple. Technically the part the kimono actually covered was well covered; long sleeved, with just a bit of neck showing where it overlapped and closed. However, the silk caressed the body it covered, lovingly showing off every curve. For fake curves, those certainly looked real. The silk almost seemed to move on its own and it took a closer look to realize that instead of being the fabric moving, it was the snakes patterned on it. They crawled very slowly across and around the garment, sometimes twining around each other, sometimes just passing by. The sash was tied off to one side and trailed down the right side, the tassels flirting with his knee as he walked.

Draco looked his best friend up and down once more before frowning. Something was missing. He looked down at Harry's bare feet. High heeled shoes would have looked very good with that outfit, giving even more definition to those legs. However, that would kind of ruin the whole, didn't have anything to wear, innocent little me image they were trying for. Sandals might be okay... he tried to remember if there was a pair of those Japanese style sandals around. He thought there might be. And... yes, polish, at least on the toes would be good too.

Leaving Harry still standing in the middle of the room, he pulled a rope to summon a house elf. One came quickly. "How may Topie help the young master and young mistress?"

"Find a pair of sandals to go with Jade's outfit," Draco ordered. "And a jar of that special nail polish my mother had."

"Yes, Master Draco, Topie be doing that," the house-elf disappeared quickly.

It seemed like only seconds later the elf was back with the requested items. Before he could put the sandals on, Draco sat him down and handed him the polish. "This is a special compound my mom spent a lot on. It will automatically be the best color to go with what you're wearing. In fact, if you change clothes, the polish will change too."

"Cool," Harry grinned. He didn't much care for putting on polish that really only went with one outfit so he usually didn't wear any, but he did know how to put it on.

Draco suddenly turned away, blushing himself. "Umm... Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry asked, distracted by painting his toenails.

"Could you maybe... not sit like that in that robe. Please?" Draco's voice was muffled.

Harry looked up surprised. What did Draco mean by that? Looking down at himself, he understood and blushed brighter than a Weasley's hair. Sitting as he was and where Draco was, he'd just given his friend a straight look up his skirt. Luckily his underwear, while still feminine, managed to hide *everything* being specially designed to do just that. He squeaked and turned around, tucking one leg underneath him with the other folded up so he could work on his toes. Suddenly he laughed.

"What is it?" Draco checked quickly to make sure the other boy was decent. Yes, he knew it was a boy, but still! His *father* would have gotten aroused by that, and he didn't like girls! Draco made sure to keep his body turned away... at least until the evidence went away.

"Hmm? Oh, it's just the polish had been going on mostly looking like silver glitter, but when I blushed, it turned red. I just thought it was funny. This dries almost immediately too, doesn't it?"

"I think so. I never paid too much attention to it." Draco admitted.

Harry's head turned, one jade green eye peeking through a curtain of black hair and Draco had to have a long talk with his body once again. Maybe this had been a bad idea. He looked again. A really bad idea.

Harry put on the sandals and they were ready.

Part 5/?

Lucius walked into the small dining room they used when it was only family at the Manor. He was surprised to find that he was the first one there. Considering he had two teenagers living with him, they were far more likely to be waiting impatiently for him than the other way around. Five minutes later, the elder Malfoy was about to send a house elf after the delinquent teens when the door opened.

Draco hid his grin. Lucius didn't show much on his face, but the very fact they'd been in here for more than a minute without a word having been spoken, said quite a lot to the blond boy. Especially since his eyes hadn't moved off of Harry's legs until he sat down. Finally his father gathered himself up.

"A little inappropriate for dinner, don't you think?" he asked dryly.

"Yes, sir," Harry agreed quietly. "But the clothes I wore today became dirty and I didn't have any others. Draco found this for me to wear."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at his son, but Draco just grinned lasciviously at his father. "I think she looks good," he said mock defensively.

"Obviously, we need to have a talk about your taste in clothes," Lucius pointed out.

Harry pouted. "Are you saying I'm ugly in this?"

Lucius almost panicked. "Not at all, Jade. It looks very nice on you, it's simply not correct for a dinner table."

Harry wouldn't be appeased and his chin started to tremble. "It's because of my legs, right? I've got ugly legs."

Panicking was starting to look like a good option. "You're legs are fine! Gorgeous in fact!"

"Then... are you saying that I look like a slut?" Harry's voice actually broke. He was proud of that.

"No, No!" Lucius looked desperately for a way to get himself out of the situation he'd gotten himself into. "I didn't mean anything of the sort. Just... couldn't you have worn something else?"

"But... but I don't have anything else," Harry lowered his head so his hair covered his face and his shoulder's shook just the slightest amount.

"I'll take you shopping tomorrow, okay? There's a whole section of clothing shops connected to Diagon Alley you might never have seen."

Harry's green eyes peeked through his hair. "Most of my clothes are Muggle, though."

"If we can't find you something you like in the wizarding world, we'll go there, okay?" Lucius sighed, it looked like he'd managed to get through it.

"And... you like my legs?" Harry asked, just to make sure.

"Of course, they're tanned, toned, muscular... very nice indeed." He really shouldn't have relaxed his mouth when he relaxed the rest of him. But Jade was smiling... smirking really. He looked over at his son, Draco was smirking at him as well. He'd been played. And by a pair of teenagers! He was so proud. "And of course, Draco can come with us so we can educate him on good taste. Right, Jade?"

"Oh, of course," Jade grinned evilly at Draco's suddenly despairing expression.

By the end of dinner, plans had been set in motion for the next day. Almost. "What about dress robes?" Draco asked as they were finishing desert.

Harry looked at him. "Why would I need dress robes? It's too early to get my school stuff, and I still have the dress robes from last year."

"Actually I was thinking of the End of Summer Ball at the Ministry. You should still be here by then, I would think. And since we're Malfoys we're expected to go. After all, no party would be a true party without Malfoys."

"I don't know, I'm not a very good dancer," Harry tried to prevaricate.

"That's okay, Father can teach you."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at being volunteered for something without his permission. Draco just grinned at him before going over to help Jade out of her chair. He didn't hear what Draco whispered to her, but she suddenly blushed wildly. He watched, intently, as they walked out of the room. It was, after all, a very nice view.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Warning for mentions of attempted/thinking about suicide

TBC on Monday!

Don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 6, 7 and 8

I'd planned on just doing 6 and 7, because they deal with shopping, but then I realized... they really just dealt with shopping and little more, so to keep you from being quite so bored, I added part 8 as well ^_^.

Thank you to everyone who's commented so far! I adore you all! Reviews make me happy.

Part 6/?

A young witch strolled down the middle of Diagon Alley. Young wizards watched clandestinely. They didn't dare show any obvious sign of interest, for the black haired witch they were watching was walking serenely between two blond haired wizards. And no one, but no one, wanted to get on the bad side of both Malfoys for coveting what was obviously theirs. It was hard to believe that a girl could be so happy being with those scions of the Dark, but she exuded a joy of life that they didn't seem wont to crush.

Harry stopped, his head tilted to the side. He was looking at a store across the street from where they stood.

"What is it, Jade?" Draco asked.

"I want to go there," Harry answered softly. "I'm being drawn."

Lucius put his hand on her shoulder, holding her still. He sent his magical senses over the store but could sense nothing amiss. Some stores with very specialized merchandise would have a spell around them so that those people who were honestly interested or needed what was offered would be drawn in. But a lingerie store? He saw other witches passing by without even hesitating, so whatever was drawing Jade was not just drawing females.

Harry wasn't waiting, he had shrugged off the older man's hand and was already heading towards the store with Draco right behind him.

"Stop!" Lucius ordered. Both stopped immediately, looking back at him. He walked up next to them. "You do not go anywhere until we know why you're being drawn, is that understood?"

"But we can't figure it out out here," Harry pouted.

"Then you stay by me, agreed?"

"Agreed," Harry sighed.

Lucius swept into the store, his eyes cataloguing everything inside. A saleswitch came up to him quickly. "Can I help you? Something for your wife perhaps?"

Lucius glared and the woman gulped. "My houseguest is being drawn in here. Perhaps you can tell me why?" he purred dangerously.

Harry peeked around him and smiled at the saleslady even as he shivered at the sound of the older man's voice. That was a tone he hadn't heard very often, but would like to hear quite a bit more.

The saleswitch gathered up her composure as she saw the teen witch peeking around the intimidating man. "Rose!" she called, smiling at the girl. "We have a special one here!"

A tall statuesque woman stepped from the office in the back and smiled at the green-eyed girl. "Well, hello. My name is Rose, what's yours?"

"I'm Jade," Harry said, walking out from behind his protector. "What do you mean special? Why was I drawn here?"

"Come into the back so we can talk," Rose suggested.

"Not without an explanation," Lucius' voice was adamant.

Harry suddenly smiled. He had been staring at Rose and it finally added up to him. Jeri had suggested there might be a place like this in the wizarding world. "That's okay, I know what it is now." He told the older man. "Why don't you have a look around while I talk to her, okay?" He went off without another word, leaving Lucius fuming and Draco chortling behind his back.

Draco had figured it out as well. After all, there was only one thing really special about his friend. Well, only one thing that had to do with lingerie anyway. He wandered off, looking around the store. "Hey, Dad?"

Lucius turned from where he was watching the door Jade went through. "What?" he growled.

Draco held up a black lace teddy. "Do you think Jade would look good in this?"

In the backroom, Harry was looking at the woman named Rose who was smiling back at him. "You've figured it out dear?"

"You're a guy, like me," Harry acknowledged.

"Indeed I am," Rose admitted. "The reason you were drawn here is because of that. You won't be drawn in again, though we certainly wouldn't mind if you came back. I'm here to show you some things you might not be aware of, to make your life easier. Is this a permanent thing?"

Harry shook his head. "Not right now. I still have two years of school but for summers, maybe even breaks."

"Well that's understandable," Rose went to gather several items as she talked. "Do the two that came in with you know?"

"One of them does," Harry watched her carefully.

"The younger one I suspect," Harry nodded in assent. "You might want to consider telling the older one, sometimes people get mad if they believe you've been tricking them, and the sooner you explain things, the better."

"Yes, I know," Harry agreed. "But not yet, I'm having too much fun. Besides, I don't think he'll be too unhappy."

"You know him better than I do," Rose said, coming back over. "I'm assuming you're using the Muggle version of fake breasts and the like?"

Harry nodded.

"These are better," she held up two thick disks of what seemed like jelly. She turned them over to show each had an indentation in the middle. "Place these over your own nipples and say 'Adhere' and they'll automatically stick to your skin, take on your skin tone and look completely natural. You could also get a set that would make you feel like they were really yours, but it's quite a bit more expensive and I don't think that's quite what you're looking for. Or am I wrong?"

Harry shook his head. "No, you're correct. But why isn't a padded bra enough?"

"Not everything can be worn with a bra. What if you want to wear something sleeveless or backless? What about a swimsuit? Besides, padded bras don't move with your body, they move with your clothes; it can be a sign if someone is looking."

"Nobody had better be looking at my breasts that closely," Harry growled. He took the disks from Rose and looked at them closer. They weren't any bigger than what he was already wearing and felt firm enough they wouldn't jiggle... much. "How would I get them off?"

"'Unadhere,'" Rose answered.

"That's not even a word," Harry protested.

"Exactly, so neither you nor anyone else will say it accidentally. You don't want them to fall off unexpectedly, do you?"

"What's the rest of that stuff?" Harry asked, shifting the discussion.

Rose held up a jar. "This is a simple hair removal cream, safe to use everywhere. Much easier than shaving, trust me. And this one," holding up a silver chain, "is spelled to hide your Adam's apple. You can get a pendant to wear on it that will change your voice, though you don't seem to need it yet. Actually, you don't seem to have much of an Adam's apple either."

"I'd better take it, just in case," Harry murmured. He looked around. "Is there a dressing room I can step into for a moment?"

Rose pointed it out and Harry stepped in. Scant minutes later he was looking at himself in the mirror. Staring actually. He knew the wizarding world would have better prostheses than the Muggle world; it was still extraordinarily strange to see small breasts poking out as if they'd always been there and were a part of his body. He took them off and put them back on several times to make sure they would come off when he chose, pulled the padding out of his bra and put it and his shirt back on.

The other saleswitch stuck her head into the backroom. "Your gentlemen friends said they would be back in fifteen minutes, and if you weren't ready to go, they were coming in to get you."

Harry laughed. "Just for that, I should be in the dressing room when they come, shouldn't I?"

"Now, now, dear," Rose soothed. "They have been patient. You can't expect men to be happy standing around waiting in a lingerie store. At least, not unless they're getting a fashion show. Now how about some bras that aren't that plain Jane one."

"Why? It's not like I'm going to be showing someone my bra. If I ever get that far, the person had better know I'm a boy." Just to be nice, he looked around and ended up buying a sleep shirt in a silvery gray. It was at least as short as the kimono he'd worn yesterday, but he'd gotten very good results with that. After some convincing he bought several other bras so he wouldn't be wearing the same one every day. He also bought a strapless bra, just in case he wanted to wear something sleeveless.

When Lucius and Draco walked back in, Harry was casually walking around. She headed over as soon as she saw the blondes enter the store. "Hey, thanks for waiting."

"Are you done?" Lucius asked impatiently.

"Got anything to show?" Draco asked with a grin. Lucius swiped him across the head just before Harry could do the same.

"Yeah, I think I've got everything," he stopped and his eyes widened. "Except that. How could I have forgotten! Excuse me, I'll just be a minute." He turned around and headed quickly to the back room again. "Rose!"

"What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked as he barreled in.

"I forgot underwear! You have any special, my type, underwear?"

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" Rose shook her head in disbelief before pulling him along to a section of panties. "All of these will keep you completely covered with no embarrassing bulges." She pulled one pair down. "This one is waterproof, so can be worn under a swimsuit. Just not a bikini, okay?"

"As if," Harry snorted, making sure he had at least a week's worth and paying for it quickly. "Thanks for everything, Rose." He headed quickly out to where the Malfoys were waiting and

let them lead him outside.

The trio wandered through wizarding London for another hour, visiting shops, but coming out with no actual clothes. Robes of strange colors weren't Jade's style at all. A visit to the Malfoy's

tailor had a promise of dress robes that would be the envy of every witch that saw them, and would be ready long before the Ball.

This wasn't to say that they didn't buy anything. Magical belts, scarves, jewelry and cloaks were looked at. Harry was unhappy to find that his animagus form was almost totally absent as a motif. What exactly was so wrong with truth? He was also surprised to find quite a large amount of snake jewelry and patterns. You weren't supposed to keep snakes as pets, but it was okay to wear them as jewelry? He bought some of course, he did like snakes after all. Especially when he found that some of the jewelry was made with snakes that could actually talk to him. And the belt with the dragon buckle could not be passed up.

He bought several cloaks, mostly black with assorted spells on them, warming or cooling spells, carry just about anything in a pocket spells, or, his favorite, a notice-me-not spell. It wasn't an invisibility cloak, it just encouraged people not to notice him. His favorite though, was what was known as a vanity cloak; it had no use except to look pretty. It consisted of layers of silvery chiffon, flaring out just to midback and spelled to float just slightly and to move as if in a gentle breeze, even when there was no breeze around.

The find of the day, however, was a set of jade jewelry. Matching pendant, choker, earrings, barrettes, a large hair clip to hold a ponytail, a ring, a pin, two bracelets, one with a single large jade to match the pendant, the other a chain of smaller ones that matched the choker. There was even a chain and jade stone belt. All of it set in chased silver settings. Most amazing of all, every piece matched... and all of it the exact color of Jade's eyes.

"It's beautiful," Harry whispered, letting his fingers trail over the set.

"Indeed it is, miss," the salesman said. "The silver is spelled never to tarnish. The barrettes will never let hair escape; you might notice the earrings and pin will both hold without ruining your clothes or requiring your ears to be pierced." Normally he wouldn't have bothered telling a teenager that much, for what teenager could possibly afford such a set, but she was with Lucius Malfoy, so she must have been important.

"How much is it?" Harry asked, his eyes not moving away from the stones.

"1,400 galleons, miss."

Harry's eyes flashed up and he sighed. "Never mind then."

The salesman did not want to lose this sale, the commission alone would allow him to buy the newest racing broom with money left over. "I could probably take it down to twelve hundred."

Harry shook his head again. "No thank you."

Lucius looked at the resigned yet determined expression on Jade's face and turned to the salesman. "Nine hundred and I'll be paying for it."

"I don't know if I can take it down that much," the salesman wasn't sure what to do.

"Then I suggest you ask your manager," Lucius purred.

"Mr. Malfoy, I can't let you do that," Harry said as the salesman was going to get his boss.

"You *can't* *let*?" Lucius raised one eyebrow.

"No sir. It's too expensive, I can't let you buy that for me."

"I don't see that you have much choice, if I choose to buy it for you."

"You're right, I can't stop you from buying it, but I can refuse to accept it. So you'll be buying it for nothing."

Lucius looked into Jade's eyes and saw the resolve. He started to say something but the salesman came into the room followed by the manager.

"Can I help you?" the manager asked.

Lucius was distracted and turned to speak to the manager. "I'm interested in this jade set."

Harry growled, turned around and stalked out.

"Well done, father," Draco glared at his father.

"What is the problem? She wants it, I can afford it. I do not see a problem here."

"The problem is pride, father. You should understand that, you certainly have plenty." Draco followed his friend out the door.

Lucius joined the younger two outside less than a minute later. "Did you buy it?" Jade asked immediately.

"Do you see it?" Lucius arrogantly asked back.

"And I'm to believe that you'd carry a bag around for the rest of the day? Or that you don't have special pockets in that cloak of yours?"

Lucius tried to stare her down, but she stared right back at him until he finally smiled slightly, proud of her resistance. He would have been disappointed if she hadn't stood up to him, there were so few that actually could or did. "I did not buy it," he finally answered.

Harry searched his eyes before finally believing him and smiled happily. "Thank you for that." He turned to lead the way to the next shop, leaving the two Malfoys standing alone behind him.

"So if you didn't buy it, what did you do?" Draco asked once sure his friend was out of earshot.

"I told them to take it down and put it away, I would come back to buy it later." Lucius and Draco smiled at each other in perfect accord before heading off after their friend.

Part 7/?

The three wizards, though one looked like a witch, left the wizarding world and headed into the Muggle one. Once they took their robes off, Harry was surprised. Lucius looked a bit old fashioned, but very nice and slightly imposing, while Draco looked like a well dressed, normal Muggle teenager.

"Very nice, Draco, but I thought you didn't wear Muggle clothes?" Harry asked, remembering something that had happened at the beginning of the school year.

Draco shrugged. "I thought I might have to go get you away from your relatives, so I got some Muggle clothes to blend in. I think Severus did as well."

Harry smiled, touched. "That's sweet," he said softly. On seeing the abashed look on his friend's face a glint of mischief enters his eyes. He stood up on tiptoe, brushed a kiss across the blonde's cheek and murmured "Thank you." He walked away keeping the memory of Draco's bright red blush in the forefront of his mind.

"Come on, let's go in here," Harry said, leading the way into the first store he'd gone into this summer. He smiled upon seeing someone he knew. "Hey, Jeri!"

"'Hey, Jeri?' 'Hey, Jeri?' Don't you 'Hey, Jeri' me, Jade Lilith Jameson! Where have you been? Nobody's heard from you for days! We've been worried sick! We thought that Uncle of yours had gotten to you, or..." she trailed off when she saw he was followed by two handsome blondes, obviously related. She grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him off to one side. "Are they...?"

Harry smiled. "They're my friends. I saw Drake a couple of days ago and admitted some things I shouldn't have... or maybe it's a good thing I did. He kind of demanded that I go home with him and his father."

"Do they know?" she asked quietly, seeing the them in question heading towards her and her friend.

"Drake does of course. His father hasn't figured it out yet."

"Is it going to be a problem?" Jeri was worried looking at the older man. He looked kind of dangerous.

"No," she grinned. "He likes me I think."

"Then it can really be a problem. If a straight guy suddenly finds out the person he's interested in is a guy... it'll end badly, I promise you."

"Ah, but that's the interesting thing. He hasn't figured out why he likes me... because he's gay."

Jeri blinked. "Yes, I'd say that's an interesting twist. However, all of that still doesn't explain... why the *hell* you didn't tell us where you were!"

"Is there a problem, Jade?" Lucius defined dangerous, his eyes glinting angrily that someone dared to yell at someone under his protection.

"It's my fault, Mr. Malfoy," Jade told him. "Jeri and several of her friends are good friends of mine. They kind of... well..."

"This is our little sister Mr. Malfoy." Jeri spoke up. "When we found out about her home situation, we've been taking care of her. Anyone hurts her, they're going to be answering to us. Understand?"

Lucius stared. A Muggle was standing there almost threatening him. Him! Lucius Malfoy! Then his eyes fell on the one they were talking about and his visage softened. "I get them first."

"We'll see," Jeri settled down when she saw that he meant it. "So. Did you just come to finally tell me you're okay?"

Harry shook his head. "You know how I'd been borrowing Karen and Willow's clothes? I think it's about time I got some more of my own, don't you?"

"More than, girl. More than. Okay then, let's get you kitted out and dressed to kill." Jeri grabbed Harry's hand and they headed out into the shop. She turned back. "You guys going to buy anything, or do you just want a show?"

"I want a show," Draco spoke up immediately.

Harry glared at them. "You're not going to make me model everything I'm looking at, are you?"

"Certainly," Lucius saw this as his chance to get back at Jade for dragging him out shopping. "We have to be sure it's all in good taste after all."

Jade and Jeri looked at each other and grinned evilly. Draco groaned. This was going to be bad. And it was.

Three hours later, the Malfoys were ready to tear their pretty blond hair out. They had seen what had to be hundreds of outfits. Jeri had called her friends to come and see that Jade was alright and the five young women had set out to make sure that Jade had the *perfect* wardrobe. It had early on been decided that Jade looked best in Slytherin colors, which the Malfoys would have been happy with... if the others had told them. Instead they just sent Jade back out in outfit after outfit. Even she/he was getting tired.

"You know, I don't think they've said anything but 'that's nice' for the past fifteen minutes," Jeri laughed.

"I know." Harry giggled. "We need something to shock them out of it."

"Something kinky?" Denise, who had taught Harry how to use make-up, asked. "Maybe something with a lot of leather... fur too?"

Jeri shook her head. "We don't sell anything like that here. But if you're going for shock value, I've got just the thing. It's amazing what some people consider fashion. Give me a second." She ran off and came back with a dress.

"You want me to wear that?" Harry practically shrieked.

"It'll wake them up alright," Willow, who had let Harry borrow her clothes, grinned.

"It'd wake the dead," Harry retorted.

"As I said," Willow stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, all right," Harry took the garment into the dressing room and got changed. He looked in the mirror and shuddered before heading out. "Hey guys, what do you think of this one?"

Lucius didn't even bother opening his eyes before calling out 'It's nice.'

Draco however, who did have his eyes open, choked. "You're not serious!" he yelped.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Harry hid his grin and his grimace looking down at the *bright* pink dress with flourescent yellow polka dots. The skirt was what seemed like a pile of ruffles while the top was halter style tied behind his neck and leaving his back bare. He turned slowly to give Lucius who had opened his eyes and was staring, speechless, a good view.

Suddenly, the older man was on his feet and striding forward, his face dark with rage.

Harry finished turning around and saw it. Fear flashed across his face and he turned pale, backing away quickly, his hands going up to protect his face. Before he could take more than a couple of steps back, others had reacted. Harry found himself behind a barricade of bodies, while Draco had grabbed his father's arm and dragged him to a stop.

"What's the matter with you, Father?" Draco said harshly.

Lucius wasn't looking at him, still staring at Jade, although all the rage had left his visage the moment he realized she was scared of him. "Who did it?" he growled.

"Who did what, Mr. Malfoy?" Jeri wasn't going to let this man come anywhere near her friend until he explained what had just happened.

"That scar on her back! Who did it?" Lucius' voice was still threatening, but they all seemed to realize it wasn't directed at them.

"It's not important," Harry whispered. "I'm going to get changed and then we can go. I've got enough stuff." He turned around and headed back to the dressing room before anyone could answer. Now they could all see the scar, a white line that practically bisected his back an inch or two below his shoulder blades, as straight as if drawn with a knife.

Jeri turned back and glared at the man standing opposite her. "If you ever, *ever* do anything like to scare her like that again, I will make you wish you'd never been born. Do you understand?" she hissed.

He nodded but his eyes still promised trouble to anyone who got in his way.

Draco still had his arm and pulled him back. "It's okay, Father," he said quietly. "She knows you didn't mean it."

He turned to his son. "You knew about the scar," he realized.

Draco nodded. "There's five of them. All the rest, Severus and I were able to heal. But not those five. We tried everything Severus could think of, but they just wouldn't go away. Funny thing is, if you asked her about the other scars? The ones we healed? She probably couldn't tell you exactly when or where she got them. But those five... Those five she could tell you down to the smallest detail. However, that does *not* mean you're going to ask her," he ordered his father. "She'll tell you when she's ready for you to know. Which won't be until you know her other secret. When you know her big secret, then you can ask. Until then, just let it go. It really doesn't have anything to do with you." Draco walked away.

Lucius' thoughts were dark. It did have something to do with him, in a way he wasn't ready to acknowledge. He would find out. And when he did, the one responsible would pay. Nobody, but nobody, hurt Jade.

Part 8/?

Lucius woke immediately but kept his eyes shut until he figured out what had woken him. That was an instinct left over from his time in the Death Eaters that he did not want to let go of. The muttering of a disturbed house elf made it very obvious what had caused him to awaken. "You had better have a good reason for waking me," Lucius warned before he even opened his eyes.

"Cattie is sorry."

Lucius' eyes flew open. Cattie never talked, especially not to him, she was the shyest elf he had and he'd only ever seen her twice. His voice got gentle. "What is it Cattie?" She, of all elves, would not have woken him unless it was very important.

"It's Mistress Jade, Master." Cattie whispered. "Mistress Jade is having a nightmare. Cattie tried to wake Mistress Jade, but Mistress Jade wouldn't wake up. Mistress Jade is hurting, Master."

"Thank you for coming to get me, Cattie," Lucius said as he got up and grabbed his robe.

"Cattie likes Mistress Jade," the house elf whispered.

"I'm sure Jade likes you too," Lucius said off-handedly as he headed out the door.

As he reached the door to Jade's room, he could hear what had alerted the house elf. Sounds of distress reached even through the door. He knocked, but the sounds didn't change in any way. Not wanting to leave the young girl in the trouble her dreams were taking her into, he opened the door and walked in.

The moonlight gave him enough light to see Jade was tossing and turning in her bed, crying out every once in a while. Her hair covered her face and she was dressed in a silky sleepshirt that shimmered silver in the light of the moon.

"Jade, Jade, wake up!" Lucius put his hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. The cries and writhing went on. "Come on, Jade, wake up!" his voice got sharper hoping to shock her out of her nightmare. It worked. Too well.

Jade cowered back away from him, her arms coming up over her head, and her cries changed. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Uncle! I didn't mean to wake you up!"

Lucius suddenly understood that she expected to get hit just for having a nightmare. His rage threatened to get out of control again, but remembering her reaction to that during the afternoon, he reined it in. She was not in any condition to differentiate between his being mad *for* her and being mad *at* her. Instead he sat beside her and ran his hand lightly over her arm.

"It's alright Jade. It's okay. You're here at the Manor, and I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe now, I promise. No one will ever hurt you again."

"Lucius?" the whisper was broken but hopeful.

"Yes, Jade. It's me. You were having a nightmare and one of the house elves came to get me." He moved his hand from her arm to her back, stroking and massaging it, trying to get her calmed down and relaxed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what? For having a nightmare? There's nothing wrong with that. I've certainly had my share."

"I'm sorry you got woken up because of me."

"I'd rather be awake and waking you out of a nightmare, than having you forced to go through whatever hell was in your sleep this night." Lucius said softly.

Jade finally turned over and looked at him, hair still covering her face. "Thank you," she whispered.

"It's not a problem," Lucius still kept his voice down. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jade seemed to think about it before shaking her head slightly. "Not right now. I just want to forget it."

"All right," Lucius agreed reluctantly. "Do you think you can go back to sleep on your own, or should I send an elf for a sleeping drought?"

Jade just pointed to the table next to the bed. Lucius bent over and opened the drawer to find a collection of bottles. He frowned. "You look like you have enough here for the entire summer."

Jade nodded slowly. "First time I've needed one since I came here." She reached for the vial he was holding, but didn't drink it. "Would you... never mind."

"I'll stay here until you get back to sleep," Lucius promised. He left his hand on her shoulder as she drank the potion and slipped off to sleep. Only once sure that she was peacefully asleep did he get up and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. He stopped with the covers still in his hands. There was something wrong with the picture, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He shrugged and tucked her in, dropping a kiss on her head as he would have with his own son.

He went back to his own bed and settled back to sleep after telling Cattie to wake him up if Jade had any more problems. It was as he was drifting off that the thought came to him. Her chest had been awfully flat... but the thought was lost to his dreams as he settled deeper into his own dreams.


	4. Chapter 9, 10 and 11

Not many comments on the last part, but I expected that. This one... has a bit more going on ^_^.

Oh! I got some good news! The two people that were plagiarizing my stories (the two unfinished ones that I'm not putting up here yet), they're gone! Finally! You don't know how many people had complained about those two.

Part 9/?

Draco grabbed Harry to go for a walk through the Manor's small section of woods with him the next afternoon.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"I know you're having fun playing with my father like you are. I have to admit, I'm having fun too, but don't you think it's time to go back to being a boy for a little while? There's nothing to hide from here. No fans or fanatics or even reporters."

Harry smiled softly. "There's one more thing. There's me. Did you know that last night's nightmare was only the fifth one I've had since I started dressing like this?"

Draco snapped around to look at him with wide eyes. "Five? In three weeks? I didn't think you'd gone more than two nights in a row without one, even after Voldemort was killed. At least not without a Dreamless Sleep potion." Then he thought of something else and frowned. "You had one last night? Why didn't you come wake me up?"

"Lucius woke me up and stayed with me until I went back to sleep." She answered his last question first. "And no, I haven't been having nightmares all by myself. I mean, I didn't take any potions for it. It's like... making this decision, changing myself so totally... It's taken away a lot of the... the *pressure* of being Harry Potter. It was as if, no matter what happened, I couldn't get away from what I had been, what I'd done, what I'd seen, who I was. Now I can." He held up a hand as Draco was about to speak. "I'm not running away. I know who I am, I know what I've done, I'm just able to take a step back, be a little more objective.

"As for why I've been staying dressed like a girl... I like it. I really do. I love the feel of the fabrics against my skin, I love the feel of a skirt twirling around my knees. I like the way I feel... and I enjoy the way people treat me."

"I don't treat you any different."

"Oh yes you do," Harry laughed. "You treat me like you would a girl whose company you enjoy. You're gentler, less cutting. If it was just while your father was around, maybe I could believe it was because you were helping me fool him, but it's not. You let me sit down first, You hold my hand or my arm while we're walking, you're more polite." Harry looked down and his voice got lower. Draco had to strain to hear. "Maybe... maybe it's manipulative." He looked up quickly, his eyes sorrowful. "I'll stop, I promise."

"No," Draco put his hand on the other boy's arm. "No, I understand. You've been treated harshly by too many people, too often. If you're really dealing with everything, than it's fine. Do what makes you happy. Just... could you..."

"Yeah? Spit it out already?"

"I think it's about time to tell my father, don't you?"

Harry thought about it while looking out into the forest. Finally he nodded. "I can agree to that. I was probably going to be a boy tomorrow anyway, so I'd have to tell him."

"Oh, yeah?" Draco asked, getting up and stretching. He automatically reached down to help his friend up then stopped, startled.

Harry laughed as Draco stared at his hand as if he'd never seen it before. "See what I mean? You do things automatically because I look like a girl."

Draco smirked. "Just as well, I don't want any girl I'm really interested in to think I'm anything less than a true gentleman."

Harry took hold of Draco's hand and let him pull him to his feet. "Of course, we wouldn't want any real girl to think you're a total prat. At least not at first meeting. That can wait until she really gets to know you."

"You know, I'm the one that knows the way out of here. As well as the location of every mud pit and nettle patch in here. Would you like me to show you where they are? I'll show you how much of a *gentleman* I really am."

"That's okay, I already know exactly how much of a gentleman you are," she grinned. "How do you think your father's going to react to having Harry Potter in his house?"

"Oh, I think it's more, how is my father going to react to the fact that Harry Potter is Jade Jameson?"

"Yeah, that too."

"I don't have a clue. I don't think he'll have a problem with it, he's just going to be surprised."

"Very surprised."

"Well, you should have told him immediately." Draco told him. He grinned cheekily.

"Hey, half the things we've been doing were your idea!" Harry shot back.

"Me? You must be mistaken. I'm the very model of filial devotion and would never keep such a secret from my father," Draco winked.

"So I'll tell him you told me that you had already told him," Harry retorted.

Draco took a minute to work that out before sticking his tongue out at his friend.

"We'll find out how he'll react tonight I guess. I don't know how Severus would feel about this." Harry muttered.

"What's Severus got to do with anything?"

"Didn't I tell you? I wrote and told him that I was staying here with you for a while and he said he'd come visit for my birthday." Harry's happiness was glowing in his face and out of his eyes. This was going to be the best birthday he'd ever had. He wasn't staying with the Dursley's and he was going to have a visitor for no other reason than he wanted to come visit for his birthday. Could things possibly be better?

"Whoa, whoa! Are you telling me tomorrow's your birthday? And you couldn't have told me this before?" He grabbed Harry's hand and started running. "Come on, we've got things to do."

"What? Draco, what's gotten into you?"

They'd reached the Manor much faster than he'd expected, but Draco didn't seem to even be thinking about slowing down. He continued dragging Harry along behind him. Harry found himself happy he'd been smart enough to wear his new boots for their walk outside. He'd be on his butt by now if he'd been wearing high heels.

Draco finally stopped and turned to Harry. "If you think, for even one moment, that you're not going to get at least a small party, you can think again. It might be too late to do much, but we can at least have cake and a couple friends over."

"A party?" Harry whispered. "A *real* party? For me?" The awe in his voice reminded Draco once again of just how bad the other boy's life had been. He knew that Harry had never gotten a present before Hagrid showed up on his eleventh birthday. He remembered his own birthdays. Big parties with tons of presents, lots of people and usually several different kinds of cakes. Harry had never had any of that. This was his friends' chance to make up for it. And even if he had to convince his father to allow Mudbloods and Muggle lovers, even Muggles themselves if Granger had to bring her parents, into his house he would make sure that Harry got a good birthday.

"Go amuse yourself, if you can. I've got things to do." Draco dropped Harry's hand and headed towards the kitchens. He stopped and turned back. "You usually get your presents at midnight, right? Do you mind if I wait with you?"

Harry shook his head still astounded at the caring. "Not at all. I... I'd like that."

Part 10/?

Lucius walked into the Manor at thirty minutes until midnight. Due to an emergency at the Ministry he had been out of the house since mid-morning. Seeing a house elf he called out. "Has my son retired for the night?"

"Master Lucius sir! Moppy is not knowing where Master Draco is. Moppy will check!" Seconds later the house elf was back. "Moppy is sorry to say, Master Draco is not in his bed!"

"Then where is he?" Lucius asked tiredly.

"Moppy does not know! Moppy is a bad elf for not knowing where the young master is! Moppy must punish herself!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Lucius grumbled to himself as he headed upstairs. That stupid elf could have at least checked around before going off to beat itself up. He knew where he was going to check first, though he sincerely hoped he was wrong. For some reason, he did *not* like the thought that his son might be in their houseguest's room at this time of night. The fact that he did not know much more about the young woman than he did when she came, and what he did was all bad, bothered him. The reaction he had to the young girl, bothered him. The fact that he was far too young to become a grandfather bothered him as well. The fact that he'd have a hard time not cursing his own son if they *were* together was also bothersome.

He took his time heading upstairs, but soon he was standing in front of the guest suite that Jade had been given. He had thought about just barging in, but while that was something he could do with his son, and would do if he *knew* Draco was in there, he wasn't positive. A light showed under the door, so at least he wouldn't have to wake anyone up. He knocked.

"Come in." Jade's voice came through the door almost instantly. Obviously she wasn't ashamed or trying to hide anything.

Lucius stepped into the room without hesitating anymore. His son was indeed in there, sitting on the bed in pajama pants and a robe. Jade however... Jade was sitting on the window seat dressed in the same sleepshirt she wore the night before. Lucius couldn't stop his eyes from dropping to the front of the silky shirt, seeming to remember something about that from the night before. Then he frowned and stared harder, taking several steps into the room. The chest underneath the shirt was indeed flat.

His eyes headed downward but a raised leg protected the youth's modesty. Finally, his eyes raised to a face devoid of make-up, a smirk on lips he'd stared at too often. Farther up were those jade green eyes filled with trepidation. He suddenly thought he should be seeing those eyes through thick glasses, and everything gelled in his mind. His eyes flashed up, to the top of the girl's... boy's face and a very familiar lightning bolt scar.

"Potter?"

Part 11/?

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Harry stood, the top of the shirt brushing his thighs.

Lucius was speechless and couldn't stop his mouth from dropping open. Draco took one look at his father and burst out laughing. Lucius closed his mouth and his look of total shock turned into a dark glare. His own son was laughing at him. The two of them had obviously played a trick on him and this, it seemed, making him look ridiculous, was the payoff. He refused to look ridiculous!

"Would someone like to explain what in the Nine Hells is going on here!" He started out softly, but in the end he was almost yelling.

Harry backed away, but held his head high. "I'd planned on telling you today, but you weren't here."

Lucius stalked forward and Draco rose to his feet, his laughter trailing off. "Father," he warned.

"It's okay, Draco, he's not going to hurt me." Harry's voice was strong and sure.

"Are you sure about that?" Lucius purred darkly. "You've been deceiving me since you came, hiding who you truly were, *lying* to me. Why shouldn't I be mad, incensed, furious at you?"

Harry bowed his head. "Perhaps you should be. I should have told you first thing, I know that. I'm sorry," he whispered.

Lucius stalked closer, close enough to touch. "Tell me why I shouldn't throw you out of this house for lying to me?" he growled.

"Father, you can't!" Draco yelped. The two main members of the drama being played out paid no attention.

"Because... because you understand," Harry murmurs. "You understand what it's like to want to just disappear. You understand what it's like to want to be anyone but you." He suddenly stepped forward, placing his hand on Malfoy's cheek before he could pull away. "You have your mask to hide behind, the mask of the cold, controlled, dark wizard. I have Jade."

Lucius' hand reached up and pulled Harry's away from his face, but didn't let go. "It still doesn't explain why you've deceived me for the past week. If you think I'd understand, why didn't you give me the chance?"

"Because... you liked Jade," Harry whispered.

"And you didn't think I could, just perhaps, like Harry too?" Lucius' voice had lost it's hard edge at Harry's response.

"Not many people do."

"And at what point did you begin to believe me to be *normal*?"

Draco was watching all of this quietly. He had realized that, as the others knew, this wasn't about him. He also, however, knew just what was on the line. For his father to turn from Harry now would hurt him badly... and he'd leave... which would in it's way, hurt him even worse. He was happy here and Draco did not want to lose that. Nor did he want Harry to leave, he'd enjoyed having his best friend here; the Manor could get very lonely for an only child. Most of all though, he did not want what was growing between his father and his friend to be ruined. Looking at them however he could see that there was something else going on here, a level of understanding a person wouldn't expect between a teenager and someone old enough to be his father. Because Harry... was smiling.

Lucius' eyes softened in response and he smiled in return. Yes, he had been a little angry but that was mostly about being laughed at. Once he got over that, which truly happened fairly quickly, he also found himself amused, even proud. That they had been able to fool him for that long was an amazing feat. It said a lot for Harry's acting ability, not to mention his looks. He allowed himself to take in everything about the person before him.

Lucius couldn't keep his eyes from dropping. The silk molded to Harry's hard chest even as the shirt tails flirted with his thighs. It was far more erotic than he would have expected it to be and he found his body responding to the picture the young man made. He found himself happy that he was still wearing his heavy work robes, hiding the evidence. A quick look down however, showed no signs that the one in front of him felt the same.

This was Harry Potter. Yet it was also, very obviously, Jade. Jade, the one who'd been teasing him, flirting with him and living in his house. The one who'd stood up to him, been scared of him and who he'd soothed out of a nightmare and stayed with until he fell back to sleep. This was Harry Potter, who'd defeated the Dark Lord. Who knew what he had been, what he was capable of and yet trusted him anyway. Last night took on a whole new dimension. It had been important to him that Jade, who'd obviously been abused and even shown herself scared of him once had still trusted him to stay with her until she slept. It was, in a way, far more important that *Harry Potter* had trusted him that much. While he was slightly angry that he'd been lied to, that single fact did much to alleviate the anger. The fact that he was lusting after a boy instead of a girl did as well. Then there was the fact that he was well aware his son was straight, so all his thoughts about the two of them together were extremely unlikely. And of course, there was the fact that Harry's long legs were bare and the rest of him was covered only by silvery-grey silk.

Harry found himself very, very happy for the special underwear he had decided to wear since he expected Draco. Regardless of what he'd said, he had been scared of what Lucius would think. The idea to let him walk in on him had come to him as he heard the knock on the door and he'd decided instantly to let it happen. Perhaps it wasn't the best way, but he truly couldn't think of a better one, especially after Lucius being gone most of the day. He hadn't really been afraid of anything physical; the older man had shown himself to be dangerous, but he'd also shown himself to be gentle. He'd known he was right when the anger in his eyes had never turned into rage. Rage was unthinking, but the anger had thought behind it and Harry truly had no worries that Lucius would hurt him as long as he was thinking. The anger hadn't lasted for too long and then the desire had come. The look in Lucius' eyes added to the sound of his sexy voice... in his room in the middle of the night... all added up to one very excited teenager. Luckily the underwear hid any incriminating bits, even if it was very uncomfortable to be that hard in them.

"So why, exactly, is my son in your bedroom in the middle of the night?"

"We're waiting, Father," Draco drawled out.

"For?" It must be admitted, Lucius did it better. Well, when it came to putting meaning in words at least.

"For..." Draco looked at the clock. "Now." He got up and headed over to Harry, and gave him a hug. "Happy birthday, Harry."

"Thank you, Draco," Harry murmured back, tears in his eyes. That was only the second time he'd ever heard those words directed at him and he savored it.

"It's your birthday?" Lucius asked, surprised. Draco stepped back and headed over to look out the window, leaving Harry to face the elder Malfoy on his own.

"Yes, sir," he answered softly.

"Well then, happy birthday, Harry." For a moment it looked as if Lucius was about to hug him, and Harry found himself swaying towards the older man.

Draco's voice broke up whatever might have happened. "Will you catch that!"

Harry jerked away and started to laugh. "Pig! Delivering the mail means you have to actually stop and let someone grab you!" He took off chasing the little owl as Draco managed to get the other owls perched around the room. Lucius helped to take the packages off of the mailowls. He turned around as Harry crowed his triumph and he held up the small owl. He looked so triumphant that it was all Lucius could do not to kiss him. Now that he knew that the girl he'd been attracted to was no such thing, the attraction kept building.

Harry held the tiny owl still as Draco took the letter he was holding. In one motion, he gathered all the other packages and was heading out the door.

"Hey!" Harry yelled. "Those are mine!"

Draco was grinning wildly until he saw the look in Harry's eyes. With a muttered curse, he pushed the packages into his father's hands and pulled the slightly younger boy into a hug. "I'm not taking them away from you, Harry. I promise. I wouldn't do that to you. You know that." He pulled Harry's head around from where it was still looking yearningly at his presents. "Those are yours, no one will take them away."

"Then why?" the lost tone in Harry's voice was like a punch to the stomach for both Malfoys. It was all Lucius could do not to drop the presents and gather the young man into a hug. For Draco it was even worse; he knew what this was all about. Unlike his father, he knew what Harry's life had been like growing up and how much these presents meant to him. Not because of what they were, or what they were worth, but simply as proof that he had friends that cared.

His voice was soft as he answered. "Because presents should be opened at birthday parties, don't you think? Wouldn't you rather wait and open them in front of the people who gave them to you? Don't you think they'd like seeing your response to them?"

Harry slowly backed up and wiped his eyes. "You meant it?"

"Of course I did. When do I ever say anything I don't mean? Actually there is one present you can open now, I don't think you'd want to open it in front of your friends. Not without a lot of explaining anyway." He pulled a package out from under one of the side tables and smirked wildly.

"Why am I suddenly not liking that look?" Harry mused, allowing himself to be distracted. He did know that presents were usually opened at parties, but he'd never had one before, he couldn't be expected to remember that, could he?

"Go on, open it," Draco urged.

Harry sat on the edge of his bed and carefully started unwrapping the present. He'd learned from years of being friends with the Weasley twins that sometimes it was better not to tear into packages. Besides, presents were to be savored. Looking at Draco's expression, he knew it would be something that might very well be the equivalent of a WWW trick. Carefully he opened the box and frowned in confusion. Uncomprehendingly, he reached in and touched the fabric inside. Instantly his face lit with a smile. He might not know what it was, but it felt nice. He pulled it out and held it in front of him. And blushed. Hard.

Lucius' eyes lit up with lust as he saw the green-eyed boy holding up a green silk babydoll with black feathers edging the hem. The elder Malfoy hadn't realized before tonight that a handsome boy dressed as a beautiful girl could turn him on. He would have expected a male to look silly in girl's clothes but Harry had carried it off with aplomb. Now, imagining the boy in front of him dressed in nothing but that, amusing was the absolutely last adjective he would use. Arousing, alluring, enticing, irresistible, beguiling and seductive... oh yes. He tightened his hands around the packages he was holding to keep himself from grabbing the wildly blushing boy in front of him. His staring was interrupted by his son who had been watching gleefully.

"I wanted to get you something with the Malfoy crest on it, but you didn't exactly give me enough time. I sent an owl to that store we went to day before yesterday. So? Are you going to model it for us?"

Harry put it down and glared. "I don't think so."

"Oh, come on, I bought it for you, don't I even get to see it on?"

Lucius wanted to yell out "No". He was the only one who should see Harry like that. He settled for saying "I believe he said no, Draco. Now we should let him get some sleep. Tomorrow actually later today, is a big day. Happy birthday, Harry, and we'll see you at breakfast. And you still have a lot of explaining to do. You both do." With that he swept out of the room.

Draco seconded the wish as he followed his father out of the room. Once outside he smiled at his father. "You're drooling."

Lucius glared at his son.

"Hey, I don't have any problem with it. I think you two would be good for each other. Just be careful." His voice was hard and determined, causing Lucius to look at him in surprise. "If you hurt him, Severus and I will make you wish Voldemort found out you were a traitor. Understand?"

"No. I don't understand. I don't understand why you are so protective of him, I don't understand why this" holding up the presents "was such a big deal. I've been patient, waiting until one of you were ready to tell me, but I believe I've been patient for more than long enough."

"You've got his big secret now, if you want the others," Draco sighed as they headed down the hallway. "Just ask. He trusts you, he showed that today, and if you ask he'll probably answer. What you *must* understand is that his life before Hogwarts was Hell, and it didn't get much better after. He really thought this summer would be..." his voice trailed off, a look of realization on his face. "So that's when."

"Are you going to explain that?" Lucius put the packages down on a hallway table, making a mental note to tell a house elf to put them somewhere safe. He opened the door to Draco's room and ushered him in.

"When he said he'd been thinking about killing himself this year, I know when it was." Draco plopped ungracefully down onto his bed. Lucius' face asked the question he didn't put into words. Draco sighed. "It was only about three days after the incident at Hogsmeade. Ever since his godfather was finally proven innocent, he'd been looking forward to going to live with him this summer. Then word came from the Ministry that they did not consider Black an acceptable guardian, feeling that his time in Azkaban and on the run left him mentally unstable. So Remus Lupin tried to get guardianship but was turned down because he was a werewolf. So they, that's Severus and Harry, tried the original plan. We didn't know we'd get Voldemort and Pettigrew this year, so Severus had already been working on a plan to get guardianship of Harry for the summer. That old fool Dumbledore convinced the Ministry that he was needed at the school over the summer and that Hogwarts was a bad place for Harry to stay because of the reporters. All this, over the course of the week after the Hogsmeade incident. I knew he was depressed, but I hadn't realized it was that bad. None of us did."

He scrubbed his hands over his face. "Look, Father, talk to him after breakfast. He will talk to you, if you ask the right questions. Ask him about his life, but don't ask him about the scars yet. Here's a thing, ask him about, say... his tenth birthday. I think you'll understand why I *am* giving him a party tomorrow, with or without your help."

"You know you have my help, child. And I will take your advice about talking to Harry in the morning. What are your plans for tomorrow?"

"I figured we could have it on that clear patch at the edge of the lake. That's still on the land so we won't have to worry about uninvited guests, but not close enough to the Manor that we'd have people wandering around. The house elves are taking care of the food and setting up, the presents are here, except for yours and I still need to find something I can actually give him in front of others. Mostly, all that's still needed are portkeys for the Weasleys, Grangers, Black and Lupin. Severus will be here around eleven, so I figured about two for the party, does that sound all right?"

"That's fine." Lucius laid his hand on Draco's shoulder and squeezed gently. "Get some sleep, I'll take care of the portkeys and you can send them out in the morning." He headed out the door. "One last thing," Draco looked up inquiringly. "Why as a girl?"

"Because nobody recognizes him that way. I thought he told you that. And he likes it. Are you okay with it? It might turn out to be a way of life for him."

"I want to talk to him about it, but I don't have a problem if it's how he wants to live his life," Lucius admitted. "It might take a while to get used to the fact that under the guise of that beautiful girl is a beautiful boy."

"Hey, for you, it's better than the other way around." Draco smirked tiredly.

"Good night, Draco." Lucius left the room after that, determined to create the portkeys Draco needed then get some sleep without thinking about the boy down the hall in that small green gown. He also needed to send off for Jade's... Harry's present.

TBC...

Gee, a conversation with Lucius *and* Severus showing up, all coming up next time.


	5. Chapter 12 and 13

First day of school... and I was subbing in a kindergarten class. Talk about chaos. And after a summer where I spent most of my time in front of the computer, being on my feet all day makes me hurt! pout

Part 12/?

The next morning there was a boy sitting where a girl had been sitting for the last several days. Lucius found himself watching closely, trying to see the similarities between the two. They were there, though more in mannerisms than anything. Jade's green eyes dominated her face while Harry's glasses totally overpowered them. He wondered for a moment how Jade managed without glasses before remembering there was a Muggle contraption, a piece of glass that actually sat *in* the eye. He needed to remember to ask if he wanted his eyes fixed. The glasses were new and much lighter than what Harry had worn before, but still very obvious. Jade's lips usually had a smile dancing around the edges, while Harry's tended to be more pensive. Jade's hair danced around her shoulders with a life of its own while Harry's was pulled back tightly into a ponytail at the back of his neck.

Still, even with all the differences, some things were the same. The way Harry sat with his elbow on the table and fingers touching his lips. Now Lucius didn't feel as bad about wanting to take the place of those fingers. The way his head tilted towards the person who was talking. The shy, flirty look he would direct toward Lucius when he thought the older man wasn't watching. This time, though, Lucius occasionally caught the gaze and looked back instead of pretending it didn't exist.

Could he accept that Harry and Jade were the same person? Yes, he could. Would he have a problem if Harry wanted to spend the rest of the summer as a girl? Especially if Draco was right about what Harry wanted? That question took a little more contemplation, but finally he decided no, he didn't mind. Harry was beautiful no matter what he looked like. He smiled to himself as he thought of being able to take Harry out to restaurants or even Ministry events. Although there might be some eyebrows raised at the age of his date, it wouldn't be near the uproar compared to if he brought a male. Not that he would hesitate if the person was important to him; the conservative, sanctimonious, puritanical and tight arsed members of the Ministry were not.

Noticing that everyone was finished eating, he stood. "Harry?"

He waited until the boy was looking at him. "I'd like to speak to you in the study, if you have the time." It might have sounded like a request, but everyone at the table knew it was an order. Harry wasn't getting out of this.

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir."

Lucius waited as Harry got up then turned to lead the way. He stopped when he heard his son snickering behind him. He turned and glared. "Was there something?"

Draco shook his head, still laughing quietly. "Just that Harry was right. Yesterday, you helped him out of his seat and would have walked next to him, just because he looked like a girl. Tomorrow, when he dresses as a girl again, I bet you'll do the same thing. Today, he looks like a boy so you don't bother. Guys really do treat girls differently."

Harry grinned at him. "Would Drakie like me to help him out of his seat? It sounds like he's jealous."

"In your dreams, Potter," Draco got up all on his own. "Go on, before he gets annoyed. Oh, and Potter?" Harry, who had started to walk to the door again, turned to look back at his friend. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks Drake," Harry murmured, and headed off to the inquisition.

Lucius led the way to the study and sat down in his favorite chair. Made of black dragonhide leather it was enchanted to mold itself to it's occupant and respond to it's occupant's mood. If he was stressed, it would soften, warm and have a massaging motion. If he was focused, as he was today, it would be firmer and cool.

Once he was settled, he looked at his guest. Harry was looking worried, biting his lower lip in trepidation. Lucius wanted to be biting that lip, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. "Are you going to sit down?" he asked lightly. Harry nodded, but didn't sit. After a few moments, the elder wizard got tired of waiting. "Sit," he ordered. Harry immediately did as requested, and then looked almost surprised at his own compliance. Lucius noted that fact in the back of his mind. If it worked for other orders... it could be interesting. Very interesting indeed.

He filed that thought away for later. Looking at the slightly fearful reaction of the boy in front of him he decided to start with an easy question. "So where did your name come from?"

Harry suddenly smirked. "My parents gave it to me. Where did yours come from?"

Lucius was glad to see that spark of impudence. Bravery and foolhardiness were key components of Gryffindors and a major part of Harry Potter. Although he wouldn't mind seeing them tempered by cunning and good sense, the lack of which was also a key component of being a Gryffindor, he did not want this young man to lose them altogether. He didn't let any of that show on his face. Instead he just stared implacably until the raven haired boy started to shift in his chair. Harry glared at him for a long moment and started to open his mouth. Then stopped. Instead he wiggled more in his chair, getting comfortable, took several deep breaths, and relaxed.

The silence stretched, both seemingly content to do nothing but stare at each other for the rest of the morning.

Lucius considered letting Harry have the victory. It was a decent effort for someone who was not a Malfoy, and this certainly wasn't getting any of his questions answered. However, he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. He was a Malfoy after all, and Malfoys didn't lose unless they would gain something by the losing, and he did not see that here. He needed to come at this talk from a position of strength and it would simply not do to give in at this point. Instead, he cheated, another very Malfoy thing to do.

Most people believed you needed a wand and special words to do magic. That was not true. A wand and words were just tools for the inept or the weak. True, they did have their uses making magic easier and more focused, but all you truly needed was a strong will, the ability to focus and a vivid and controlled imagination. Lucius Malfoy had all three. Nothing on his face or body showed the concentration he was suddenly using as he directed a small spell at his challenger. He gave Harry credit for managing to sit still, though no longer relaxed, for another full minute before it became too much for him. Harry suddenly twisted in his chair, trying desperately to scratch the sudden and persistent itch that had sprouted on his left shoulder blade.

Although watching Harry writhe around in the chair trying to either get his hand on the itch or rub it against the seat back started as amusing, it quickly changed to erotic as hell. That wouldn't do. It was hard to hold a decent conversation when all you were thinking about was how to get him writhing like that under you. Preferably with less clothes. Maybe just Draco's present.

Chasing that thought out of his mind he put an expression of resigned amusement on his face. He pulled an ottoman in front of his chair and then called for Harry. With an eager expression, Harry plopped down on the ottoman, his shoulder just in the right position for Lucius' strong hands and well- manicured nails to work. Harry sighed in relief as the itching became bearable and then went away. He had no intention of telling the older man to stop though. He remembered how much he'd enjoyed those hands when he'd been a gryphon. They were even better now.

"Your name?" Lucius' voice swept over him from behind and only an act of will kept Harry from reacting to the smooth silkiness.

"Well, most people go for a female version of their own name, but Harriet? Really, do I look like a Harriet to you?"

Lucius chuckled, his hands doing less scratching, instead seeming to gently stroke his shoulders. "You're correct, Harriet would not be my first choice."

"Me neither. I thought about using a feminine version of my middle name, maybe Jamie. I could have lived with that I think, but... I don't know, it just didn't seem right using my dad's name. He had a son, not a daughter, you know?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Same with using my mother's name. One of Jeri's friends suggested Emerald for my eyes, but no one else thought that was a good idea, then Denise suggested Jade. I liked it. It was kind of exotic, but it was still describing me. As for the rest, I wanted to keep the link with my parents, Lily wouldn't work, because Jade Lily sounds like a Chinese restaurant," his laughter was joined with Lucius for a moment. "I just decided on Lilith instead of Lilian. I liked it better. And Jameson... James' son."

"Very well thought out," Lucius murmured. It was all Harry could do to keep from wiggling like an overexcited puppy at being given that slight bit of praise. It was still not something he was used to and still one of the most precious gifts he could be given, especially coming from someone who's opinion meant a lot to him.

"Why do you believe you need such a mask?" Lucius asked.

Harry thought for a long moment, then said contemplatively, "When I said Jade was my mask, that wasn't entirely true. You wear a mask to hide yourself, Jade lets me show myself."

"You're saying you really are a girl?" Lucius raised his eyebrow, even though Harry was still turned around. "There are potions and spells that can take care of that if you feel so strongly about it."

Harry laughed. "That's not what I meant. I don't mean that I'm actually female," Lucius sighed silently in relief. "I just meant that... What did you first think when you saw me as Jade?"

Lucius was surprised at the question, but answered anyway. "I thought you were very nice looking and my son had good taste."

"Nothing else?"

"What else was there?"

"Exactly." Lucius was confused, but Harry continued before he was forced to admit it. "You had no preconceptions on who or what I was. You looked at me and saw a teenager. Sure, you saw a girl, but you still saw more of me than anyone has seen in a long time, at least on first impression. And it happened, because you weren't looking at Harry Potter.

"When it comes right down to it, Harry Potter is nothing *but* preconceived notions. No one looks at me and sees a person first. They see a scar, they see the hope or savior of the wizarding world, they see my father, occasionally they even see a freak or an enemy. They don't see me. And Harry Potter can't do anything that their notions don't say he can. I wasn't allowed to be a Slytherin, because I'm supposed to be a good guy. However, if I do anything against the hero image, than I'm the worst of the bad guys until I save the world... again. I can't fear anything, I'm Harry Potter. I can't want anything more than what I have, because I'm Harry Potter, and Harry Potter is happy with what he has. I can't be hurt, because what could hurt the Golden Boy.

"Nobody looks at Jade and says "you can't be scared, you can't wish, you can't dream". Nobody looks at Jade and sees anything but a teenager. They look at Jade and see a person. Who looks at Harry Potter and sees a person? Draco, Severus, Hermione... who else? The Dursleys certainly don't, they see a freak. Dumbledore doesn't, he sees a tool. Sirius, as much as I love him, doesn't, he sees a link to my father. Ron? Sometimes, but he still sees the Golden Boy too much. Even after all this time." He sighs.

"As strange as it sounds, being Jade is as close as I will ever come to really being Harry."

Lucius had stopped scratching long ago and simply sat, gently petting the tense muscles of Harry's shoulder as he thought about what he'd heard. He understood. His own mask came because no one looked at him and saw anything but a Malfoy. Eventually he'd grown to enjoy being seen as Malfoy instead of Lucius, at least by those he considered below him, however, he could see that it must be as hard if not harder to be considered good by the world than to be considered evil. And finding a way to be able to express the emotions the world had determined you didn't have, was probably a better choice than turning yourself so cold that even you weren't sure you had any to show.

He'd gotten a lot of insight in the last couple of minutes, but there was one more question he needed to ask. Lucius gently pushed on the shoulder he had been petting, turning Harry around to face him. "Tell me about your tenth birthday," he asked gently.

All traces of mirth or pleasure were completely wiped from the face in front of him. The shoulder he was still touching went rigid and his eyes were hard and pained. "Why do you want to know?"

"This is about getting to know one another and I have the feeling this is something I should know. I also believe this is something you need to tell." The sixteen year old still looked unsure so Lucius added, "I will believe you, you know." Harry stared up at him, shocked. "Whatever it is, whatever you tell me, I will believe you. I see you, Harry." He decided to take the attention away from that telling line. "If you answer, you may ask me any question you choose, and I will answer truthfully."

Harry drew in a deep breath and nodded slightly. Lucius noticed the way his eyes couldn't quite seem to reach his own face any longer and had a suggestion. "Would you feel better if you weren't looking at me?" The nod was so slight he would have missed it if he hadn't been watching closely. Harry turned around on the ottoman and closed his eyes. Lucius, seeing those tense shoulders right in front of him, found himself moved to try and help. He put his hands on the top of his shoulders and pressed down, planning to start a massage. He wasn't expecting the jerk away or Harry's wide scared eyes suddenly looking back at him. Harry stared at him for a long moment before settling back and letting the older man's hands start working on the knots in his shoulders.

"Tell me," Lucius commanded softly.

"My tenth birthday," Harry sighed softly. "What do you want to know?"

"Take me through the day. Tell me all of it."

Harry shrugged lightly, careful not to make the blonde believe he wanted his hands off and started to speak in a detached tone. That alone was enough to tell Lucius that it was not a good memory. Not that he needed the hint.

"Aunt Petunia woke me up as usual to go make breakfast. I accidentally burned two pieces of bacon. I got a beating for it, of course, but I got to eat the bacon too. It was worth it. I'd managed to fry a piece of bread and put it in my pocket before they came into the room. That was the only good thing about having to wear Dudley's hand-me-downs, lots of places to hide things. They made sure to eat everything on their plates, so I didn't even have any scraps to eat. After I washed the dishes I went outside to start my chores. I managed to eat the bread while I was watering the back lawn and drink some water from the hose." He stopped for a moment. "You're hurting me." His voice didn't sound any different with those last three words than the ones before them, detached and distant as if it didn't matter.

Lucius cursed silently. He had gotten so angry already. He hadn't even realized his grip had tightened. "I'm sorry," he whispered, pulling his hands away.

Harry shrugged. "It's no big deal."

That was it. Forget about giving him the distance he seemed to want, or not going too fast. Lucius was not going to let that go. With no warning, he grabbed the young man by the waist,

picked him up (with a side thought of how light he was, but after what he'd just heard, that wasn't too surprising) and pulled him into his lap. With no help from the rigid form in his arms, he settled the boy as comfortably as he could, turning him so he could look him in the face.

"It is a big deal," he said forcefully but making sure not to raise his voice. "I should not have hurt you. I didn't mean too, but that's no excuse. I should have had better control of myself. I do not have the right to hurt you. No one does. Ever. Not me, not your uncle, no one."

"You were angry," Harry whispered.

"Yes, I was. I still am. I am not, however, angry at you."

"You're not angry that I stole food?" Harry looked away.

Lucius very carefully grabbed Harry's chin and faced it back towards him. "How could I possibly be mad at *you* that you had to steal food. I told you Harry, I see you. You're not going to tarnish my sight of you if I found you did something others might consider wrong; I've certainly done plenty that falls into that category. Regardless, I'm not angry at you. I am very, very angry at your family for feeding you so little that you had to steal food. Then again, you didn't steal it, did you?"

"Hmm?" Harry made a questioning sound.

"As your guardians, one of their responsibilities was to feed you. You just took what was yours by right, though by right you were owed a lot more than a piece of bread and a couple slices of bacon. They had more to eat than that, didn't they?"

Harry nodded and relaxed, almost melting into the large body that was holding him so gently as he went on. "I found a rock while I was weeding. It was pretty. Oh, not when you first saw it, it was kind of plain, but if you held it up the light just right... it sparkled like it was shot through with diamonds. I pretended that it was a birthday present, put there where I was sure to find it, just for me. I still have it."

"I'm glad you got at least one present," Lucius murmured, rubbing his hand softly over Harry's back.

"I cleaned the garage then. I tried to get all the oil spot off the concrete, I scrubbed as hard as I could, but I couldn't get it all up. Aunt Petunia called me in for lunch. She's not quite as bad when Uncle Vernon and Dudley aren't around and I got a piece of toast with beans and an apple that only had a couple of bad spots. When I went back outside, I scraped off the paint around the trim. I was supposed to paint it that day. But Dudley and his friends came by and I had to hide. They were talking about giving me a birthday spanking with a cane that Piers father had. They'd caught me before when playing with that. It hurt bad, a lot worse than their fists or belts. I couldn't have taken eleven hits from that, I just couldn't."

Lucius was glad the boy wasn't looking at him right then and that the earlier accident kept his strength in mind at all times. He was sure the expression on his face would have scared him away forever. Harry's voice was small, child-like, as if he was back in the time he was talking about. The elder Malfoy wanted to stop him, bring him out of whatever self-induced trance he'd sent himself into, but didn't know what that would do. He had to know it all, and he truly believed Harry needed to tell it all.

"When Uncle Vernon got home I hadn't finished the painting. He hit me a couple times then I got locked in my cupboard for the rest of the night.."

"Your cupboard?" Lucius asked softly.

"Uh-huh. I lived in the cupboard under the stairs until I got my Hogwarts letter."

The two sat there in silence for a while, the smaller one curled up in the larger's lap as his hair and back were gently stroked. Finally Lucius broke the silence. "Is that why you're so..." he tried to find a word that would not be insulting.

"Petite?" Harry asked, a flash of true amusement in his eyes as he started to come back around. He made no move to get up though, he was extremely comfortable right where he was. "Yeah. Sev and Draco tried their best to undo all the damage malnutrition had done to me over the years, and they fixed almost all of it, but they couldn't make me any taller. Sev thinks that when I was still living in the cupboard, I was so afraid of outgrowing it and getting smushed in there that I unconsciously used magic to limit my size so it couldn't happen."

Lucius smiled down at the boy on his lap. He also made no move to get him to move, he was very comfortable as well. "Thank you for telling me, I know it must have been hard on you."

"You asked," Harry murmured.

"So I did, but thank you anyway. Now, what would you like to ask?" Lucius was expecting a question about his own childhood, maybe his friendship with Severus, his becoming a Death Eater, perhaps even his marriage. He didn't expect the simple question he got.

"Do you like me?" Harry ducked his head and blushed as soon as he said it. He couldn't believe he'd done that.

Lucius blinked, the only expression of surprise that he allowed himself. "Like you? As in..."

"You know,* like* me, like me?" As the silence lengthened, Harry's face fell. With a squirm, he got up of his comfortable seat. That squirm was enough to break Lucius' paralysis.

He grabbed Harry's hand as he started to withdraw, pulling him back towards him as he stood up. Tilting his head up, he searched the jade green eyes below him. Finally, he answered. "Yes," he said simply.

Harry's smiling was beguiling in its utter sweetness. A look that said Lucius had just made him the happiest person on the face of the earth. "Why?" he asked softly.

"Why do I like you?" he clarified. Harry nodded. "Well, I like you because you're brave and smart, generous, sweet and sneaky. Because you're Gryffindor enough to fight for what you want and Slytherin enough to do it the smart way. Because with Jade, you found a way to get what you wanted without hurting anyone." He gently pushed some loose pieces of hair off of Harry's face. "I like to talk to you and spend time with you. I like you because we understand each other. Of course, there's also the fact that you're a sexy enough girl to make me consider switching and an even sexier boy." Harry blushed. "You're beautiful, however you dress, especially now with your 'jade' green eyes sparkling with happiness."

Harry sighed happily and gently leaned in towards Lucius and smiled as he wrapped him in his arms.

"What do you want for your birthday, Harry? Ask, and it shall be yours."

"A kiss," Harry whispered. "Will you kiss me, please?"

"Gladly," Lucius answered softly. He bent his head down towards those lips he'd ached for. Harry raised himself on the balls of his feet, reaching for what he yearned for. Their lips met in what started as a chaste, gentle kiss. Lucius pressed slightly harder until the lips under his parted slightly. With extreme gentleness and patience, Lucius taught Harry how to kiss, making sure they both enjoyed it but it didn't go any farther than Harry was ready for. The last thing he wanted was to scare this lovely boy away. Harry was more ready than he thought. Without warning, he deepened the kiss, opening his mouth and using his tongue the best he could figure out how. At the same time his hands went up and grasped almost desperately, one going deep into the soft as silk moonlight hair, the other grabbing a shoulder as hard as he could. Lucius groaned, wrapping his arms around the raven haired man as he sucked the tongue in his mouth, letting his own almost caress it's counterpart. Neither heard the door open.

"Harry, are you in here? Lucius, let him go!" That yell caused the two to quickly pull apart. There was Severus Snape, more angry than Harry had ever seen him, his wand out and pointed at Malfoy.

Part 13/?

"Sev, it's okay! Put the wand down, please," Harry pleaded, but didn't move from his spot in front of Lucius. He didn't want the person who had just given him his first kiss to be hexed into oblivion, which seemed to be what his potions professor was thinking of doing.

"Harry, get away from him," Severus growled, not taking his eyes away from the pedophile who had been mauling his student.

"Not until you put the wand down," Harry refused firmly.

Not moving his wand, he turned to look at the boy's face. Lips red, moist and slightly bruised looking turned his anger up another notch but the eyes looking back at him were calm, even happy. That however, wasn't proof of anything. Who knew better than he how Harry had accepted abuse for years before finally blowing up at the beginning of last school year. He could just be happy to see him, it had been over a month.

Harry walked up to his potions professor, the man who in the past year had become the closest thing he'd ever had to a father, and slipped the wand from his fingers. "I'm glad you could come, Sev."

Severus took most of his attention from the other man in the room and turned it towards the teenager standing in front of him. "And where else would I be on your birthday? Especially your sixteenth? I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."

"Oh, Oh! You haven't heard! Drake and Lucius are giving me a party! Can you believe it? Cake and presents and my friends, all at the same time!" Severus smiled down at the teenager in front of him, it was good to see him so excited and happy. It had been a long time since he'd seen that expression on the boy's face. It still didn't mean he was forgiving the other man for touching the still innocent boy in front of him, but it did mean he probably wasn't going to be picked up for using the Unforgivables on him.

"That's wonderful news, Harry. I take it that's why Draco grabbed your present before I could give it to you, hmm?"

Harry mock scowled. "He did that for the ones I got last night too. Oh well, it's for a good cause."

"I need to talk to Lucius, all right Harry?" It was not truly a request, no matter how it was worded.

"Go ahead," Harry shrugged. "I'm not stopping you."

"Alone." The two's eyes clashed in a battle of wills, neither having any intention of losing.

"It's alright Harry, I wish to speak to him as well," Lucius' words added weight to Severus' side and Harry reluctantly gave in.

"Fine, but I'm keeping your wand and I'm going to be right outside. I'd better not hear any curses being thrown around in here, you understand?"

Severus simply raised one eyebrow and let his expression say it all.

Harry just laughed.

Severus waited until the door was closed before turning back to the other man. "How could you? He's just a child!"

"Not so much a one, he *is* sixteen," Lucius walked over to the bar. "Drink?"

"Yes, sixteen. The age of your own son if you recall. And firewhiskey, straight."

Lucius handed him the drink than gestured to the chair Harry had started out the morning in as he settled down into his own.

"Well?" Severus asked darkly as he drained the glass. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

"What did you expect me to do?" Lucius asked quietly.

"Not molest my boy would do well to start," Severus growled.

"I wasn't molesting him," Lucius' eyes darkened with the rage he still had from Harry's story and had not yet had a chance to get rid of. "Did you expect me to tell him no?"

"Tell *him* no? Are you trying to tell me *he* started this? And you had nothing to do with it?" Severus scoffed.

"He'd just told me some of his life growing up. And I want to know what plans you have for those *things* that called themselves his family." He growled in an aside. "I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. Told him that whatever it was I would make sure he got it, no matter what. He asked for a kiss. Did you expect me to refuse? To go back on my word and disappoint him? From what I understand, that was probably the first time he'd ever asked for something for his birthday. No matter what it was I would have given it to him."

Severus sighed. What could he say to that? For Harry to ask for it and get turned down would have been devastating to the boy. "Fine. I understand. But this was the only time, right?"

"It has never happened before, no," Lucius agreed easily.

"And?" Severus prompted. Lucius watched him carefully. "I am not leaving here until you tell me it won't happen again."

"It won't happen again," Lucius smiled as Severus got up, appeased. "Unless he wants it to."

"That is not the answer I was looking for," Severus glowered. It was a good thing Lucius was immune to death glares or he would be dead where he sat. At the very least, petrified.

"I will swear not to harm him and do so happily. I will swear not to do anything he doesn't want to do. But I will not swear not to touch him or kiss him. Not unless *he* asks me too. It is, it must be, his decision, one he is fully capable of making." He stared solemnly at the other man, his best friend. "Who would you wish to be his first?"

"No one! Not until he's thirty! Or at least twenty-one."

"That's not very fair to him, now is it? He's legally of age, and mentally mature enough, or are you saying he's not?"

Severus opened his mouth to say just that, but couldn't. Harry was capable of many things, including making his own decision on who his lover might be. But it should be someone his own age, not someone old enough to be his father! There was a tactic. "And what would your son think about this?"

"Draco? He's encouraging it. He seems to think we'd be good for each other."

"We will see. I'm going to talk to Harry, get this ridiculous notion out of his head." Severus growled, getting up and stalking towards the door.

"Don't go out there mad," Lucius warned him.

Severus' glare put all his others to shame. "I believe I know how to deal with my own child."

Lucius' eyebrow raised at that. Well, that certainly put a spin on things, didn't it?

Severus walked through the door to find Harry standing just on the other side. "Is he okay?" he asked quickly, moving to look in the door. He might have the black-eyed man's wand, but Severus had been the one to teach him wandless magic.

"He's fine, but you and I need to talk." Harry nodded, sighing. "Is there somewhere out of the way we can go to talk?"

"How about my room?"

"That will do fine," Severus agreed.

Harry led the way upstairs and to the guest room he'd been given. It was surprising how little time it had taken before he started thinking of it as *his* room. He didn't even dare unpack at the Dursley's but had immediately started setting this one to his liking. Even his precious photo album had a place of honor on his bedside table.

"I'm really glad you were able to come today," Harry said as they reached the landing.

Severus reached over and pulled him into a hug. "As if I would miss it. Happy birthday, my little gryphon."

Harry relaxed into the hug. This was an entirely different feeling from when Lucius held him and yet, it was the same as well. Sometimes he imagined this was how he would feel if James Potter could hug him now. Safe, warm, protected, happy.

Finally they separated and Harry led the way into his room. He really should have thought first. "You're not going to forbid me to see Lucius, are you?" he asked as they walked in.

Severus kept his attention on his almost son. "Would it do any good?" The look on Harry's face was answer enough. "Harry, he's more than twice your age, certainly old enough to be your father. You need someone your own age."

"And who would you suggest?" Harry looked seriously at one of the most important people in his life. If it came down to Lucius or Severus, he would choose Severus. As much as he liked Lucius and really wanted to know him better, it was still very early days for the two of them. As much as he wanted to try and make a relationship with Lucius work, he wouldn't give up his relationship with his almost father for him. He couldn't. He hoped he didn't have to choose.

"One of your friends, perhaps?" The look Harry gifted him with could only have been learned from himself. He was so proud.

"Friends, hmm? Well, there's Draco. He'd be almost perfect... if it wasn't for the fact that he was straight. Ron, perhaps?" he chuckled at the look on Snape's face. "I don't think so either. Oh, I know! Neville!" This time he burst out laughing. The look of combined shock and disgust on the older man's face did him in. "I'm sorry Sev, but there's no one my own age that I would consider. As for older students... Oliver Wood was cute, but we just don't have enough in common. That's true of almost anyone still in school or just graduated. I've lived through too much, done too much, to really be happy with someone who hasn't grown up as much as I've been forced to. The only other person I know, that I think I could actually have a relationship with would be Bill Weasley, and he's already got someone.

"But it's not like Lucius is my last choice. He's not. I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous, sexy and strong enough to handle me. It's not like I'm incredibly easy to deal with, you've got to admit that," Severus nodded slightly, he did have to admit that. "There's just something about him. I can talk with him for hours and while I might not know as much as he does, he never makes me feel stupid. He doesn't look at me and see 'The Golden Boy'." He ignored the fact that Lucius hadn't seen the golden boy because he was seeing a girl, "and you know how rare that is. He can accept me as who I am, no matter who that happens to be. I like him, Sev, and more than just with my body, though he does make my blood burn. Yeah, yeah, I know, too much information. I'd really like a chance to know if it can be more than it is right now. If we can be more. Do you understand?"

"And if I forbid it?" Sev asked straight out.

"Then it won't happen." Harry said sadly. Severus stared at him. "I like him a lot, but I don't love him yet, I don't know him well enough. I do love you though. I won't give you up for him. You're too important to me."

Severus found himself without any ability to speak. No one had ever, *ever* chosen him first. For Harry to do so... He looked at Harry's eyes and saw that he meant every word. He also saw what it would do to him to have to make that choice. He might say that he wasn't in love with Lucius, but he was heading that way fast. Making him choose would tear his heart in two, and Severus couldn't do that to him. He pulled him into a hug. "I won't forbid it, even if I don't like it. Just promise me you'll go slow," he pulled back and stared him straight in the eye, "and if he ever does *anything* to hurt you, you will tell me immediately. Agreed?"

Harry smiled widely and fully. "Agreed!"

Severus' eyes went past Harry, and for the first time he took in the room. He frowned, perplexed. "Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are there dresses and skirts hanging in your wardrobe?" Harry blinked, suddenly realizing it had been a bad idea to bring Severus up here without checking the room out first. At least making sure the wardrobe doors were closed.

"Um..."

"And is that a make-up collection on your dresser?"

"Uh..."

"And what, exactly, is this?" He stepped forward and picked up Draco's present.


	6. Chapter 14, 15 and 16

For those of you waiting for the scene where Severus finds out... you're going to have to keep waiting. That doesn't actually happen until chapter 18, which will be out next Monday.

I tried to cut out parts of the masturbation scene in chapter 14 without killing the flow, but I'm not entirely sure how well I did. I'm having trouble deciding what I consider graphic.

I forgot to put in warnings for Dumble bashing. There will be some in here, though not nearly as much as there is in the sequel.

Part 14/?

Harry lay back on his bed. It had been a very, very long, absolutely wonderful day. He might even say it had been the best day of his life. It had most certainly been the best birthday of his life. Sure, he'd had that conversation with Lucius, and maybe it wasn't the greatest thing to talk about, but they did need to get to know each other and there would be other conversations. Next time it'd just have to be Lucius' turn to talk. There was still a lot he had to know about the older man, and a lot Lucius had to learn about him, but it'd been a good start. Harry sighed happily. A very good start.

And the kiss... his first ever real kiss and it had been every bit as wonderful as his dreams. More so even. And there had been more kisses and there would be more kisses. Lots more kisses. If he was going to be Lucius' boyfriend, which was certainly looking likely, then he could demand all the kisses he wanted.

And Severus! Walked in at the worst possible time, but he accepted it! Sure there was some argument about it, but he accepted that it was Harry's decision and let it go. And then he found out about Harry's cross dressing, and he'd accepted that too! Not as well as Draco and Lucius, but that was probably just because he'd never seen Jade. Hard to believe that just last year he didn't even like the Potions Professor. Didn't hate him, but didn't like him too much either. Severus was just down the hall, he'd decided to stay at the Manor for a couple of days. And just *decided* to stick his head in Harry's room as he was passing by. What did he expect? Him and Lucius to be doing the wild thing the night after they first kissed? Not that he'd particularly mind... but no, he wasn't ready for that and *everyone* knew it.

Then, the party. Yeah, there was tension. Nobody was really happy that it was the Malfoys who were giving him the party, but everyone knew it was his first ever party, and they were *all* determined not to ruin it. Even his godfather was at least polite. He and Severus hadn't fought more than once and Ron and Draco had managed to spend the whole time without insulting each other. Much. It had been wonderful. There was food, there was cake and most of all friends. Okay, there had been presents too, but the friends, and the lengths they went to not to ruin it for him... that's what was really important. He'd gotten the usual for presents; candy, jokes, books and quidditch supplies. Severus had gotten him a cloak with a personal armor spell on it. It'd keep him safe from almost anything physical. Too bad he hadn't had it last year.

And after everyone had left, it still wasn't over.

/Flashback/

_"Thank you, Draco," Harry hugged his friend hard. "This was the best day ever!"_

_"You're welcome, Harry," Draco hugged him back._

_He moved over to Severus and hugged him as well. "Thanks for coming today Severus. And for taking everything so well," he ended up whispering._

_Severus raised a hand and ran it over Harry's head. "You're more than welcome, little gryphon."_

_Finally, Harry moved over to Lucius. "Thank you for allowing everyone to come." He just stood there for a long moment._

_"Oh, just hug him already," Severus finally ordered roughly._

_Harry grinned and followed directions. Lucius wrapped his arms around him and just held the young man until he felt ready to let go. Harry didn't want to let go. Finally Severus cleared his throat and Harry reluctantly backed away. They all settled on separate chairs in the salon. Harry would have liked to settle on Lucius' lap as he had that morning, but he didn't think Severus would quite approve._

_"So," Severus asked quietly. "You told me why you do it, but what made you decide to start dressing like a girl?"_

_Lucius was listening intently. Not only hadn't he realized Harry told Severus about his being Jade, but he was quite interested in that answer as well. He was surprised to find that his feelings were slightly hurt. It seemed everyone except him had been told immediately._

_Harry seemed to realize this, for first he told the Malfoys, "I took him to my room to talk. I didn't even think to check if the wardrobe was closed or your" he spoke to Draco "present was put up."_

_He turned to Lucius and Severus. "The first day of summer vacation, I went shopping. That's where I met Jeri. When she asked me what I wanted out of my clothes, I said I wanted them to feel good, look good and not look like me. Her ex-boyfriend was a wizard, so she knew who I was once I told her my name. We tried a couple of styles to disguise me, like punk or goth, but that..." he shuddered. "I just couldn't see wearing something like that."_

_"And yet you could see wearing girl's clothes?" Severus' voice was just a trifle sarcastic._

_Lucius looked at him. "You haven't seen him as Jade, have you?"_

_"Jade?"_

_"That's the name I use as a girl," Harry explained. _

_"Still..."_

_"Harry has been living here for almost a week," Lucius said. "I only found out he was a boy last night."_

_Severus blinked. "He's that realistic?"_

_Harry just smiled. "Anyway, Jeri made me promise to try the clothes she gave me before I saw what they were."_

_"What made her think of that?" Lucius asked, interested._

_Harry's smile turned into a grin. "Because Jeri's a boy."_

_"Then those other women we met..." Draco sat up straight. _

_Harry nodded. "All of them are transvestites. Jeri, Denise, Karen, Willow, Raye and Rose from the lingerie store."_

_"That's why you were drawn in, wasn't it?"_

_Harry nodded. "Rose said that they only get first timers and it's fairly rare. There's only about three a year."_

_"While we're talking about Jade," Lucius pulled his wand and summoned a package. He handed it to Harry. "Happy birthday."_

_"But... but you already gave me something," Harry exclaimed._

_"And is there some rule that says I can only get you one thing? I do believe Draco got you two things."_

_Harry glared. "You didn't get me something like that, did you?"_

_"As much as I might believe it's interesting to see you dressed in that, I would hope I have better taste."_

_Harry slowly opened the gift. It was a jewelry box made of mahogany with a top that lifted up and many small drawers. "It's beautiful, thank you."_

_"Touch your wand to the design on top." Harry did so. "Touch the pull on each drawer and then the top again, then tell it to open." Harry followed directions and nothing happened. He looked up in surprise._

_Lucius smiled. "It will now open only to you. When you want to open it, touch your wand to the design on top and say open, all the drawers are now capable of being opened. Once you're done, touch your wand to the top again, and say lock. No one else will be able to get inside."_

_Harry smiled, delighted. He raised the top and stared. Slowly he opened each drawer. Without saying a word he slowly closed each one._

_Lucius had been smiling smugly as he opened the top, but that smugness had changed to worry as Harry closed it back up without having spoken._

_"Harry? I know you asked me not to buy it for you, but you wanted them. Besides, it's a gift, it's bad manners to say anything about a gift's price."_

_Harry stood up, still not saying anything. He walked over to stand in front of Lucius and just looked at him, no expression on his face. _

_Lucius sighed. "If you truly hate them that much I'll..." Harry put his hand up and Lucius trailed off. _

_Without warning, Harry leaned over him in his chair, bent down and kissed him, hard. "Thank you, Lucius. They're beautiful," he said when he pulled back._

_"I'm glad you liked them," Lucius pulled Harry down on his lap. To hell with Severus being in the same room. He dipped his head and kissed Harry long and hard. "There's one more thing I want to give you."_

_"I think you've given me enough," Harry smiled. "Unless you mean more kisses, I'll take more kisses."_

_"Those you can have anytime you want," Lucius smiled. "Actually I was thinking of Cattie."_

_"Cattie, the house elf?"_

_"Indeed. She's very shy and I had only ever heard her speak twice before she came to tell me you were having a nightmare. I think she might be happy being your personal house elf."_

_"Hmm," Harry murmured, thinking. "I'll ask her. She does talk to me that's true... If it's what she wants I don't have a problem with it, Dobby might though, Hermione too, if you want me to take her back to Hogwarts with me. If it's just while I stay here, I have no problem with it at all."_

_"She'll need to know your secret," Lucius said thoughtfully._

_Harry laughed. "You don't really think there are any secrets from your house elves, do you? All of them know who I really am. They also know not to call me anything except Jade."_

_"Why am I the last one to know?" Lucius growled._

_"Because, Father, you're slow." Draco said nonchalantly. _

_"And you, are up past your bedtime," Lucius smirked._

/End Flashback/

Harry closed his eyes as he remembered those kisses, remembered the feel of Lucius' body under his as he relaxed in his lap, imagined what it would have been like if Severus and Draco hadn't been in the room. Would Lucius have held him tighter, kissed him harder, let his hands wander under his shirt? Perhaps lower? Harry let his own hands wander over his body as he imagined Lucius' would do. Would they be gentle, or a little rougher? Harry pushed the covers off as his hands drifted down his body, opening a few buttons on his shirt so he could play with his nipples, rolling them gently and then harder between his fingers as he imagined larger hands, hands with no broom callouses, taking the place of his own.

Afterword, the bedroom door closed slowly and noiselessly. Lucius leaned against it for a long moment, too aroused to move. He'd heard noises coming from inside the room, and fearing that it was another nightmare was about to knock when he heard his name called. Opening the door immediately, he was just in time to see Harry, his sleepshirt unbuttoned and pushed up and staring at his hand as if he'd never seen it before. He'd been about to back out when he saw the teenager take that first lick. Watching Harry sucking his fingers had to be one of the most innocently erotic acts he'd ever seen. All the more so because he wasn't meant to have seen it.

With a last look at the now closed door, he walked off to his bedroom, planning on getting some relief himself.

Part 15/?

Lucius woke to the knowledge that visitors were coming. The wards around the Manor were set up to immediately inform the Master of the Manor of any guests, welcome or otherwise. He walked over to a corner of his bedroom where a large crystal ball was situated. A pass over the top and the swirling clouds cleared to show the front drive and the carriage with the emblem of the Ministry coming down the drive. It was followed by two more, the middle one having the personal emblem of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, upon it.

Why would the Ministry be here, and at this time of the morning? They were obviously trying to catch him out about something, but what?

Of course, Harry.

He should have known it was too much to hope that Harry's presence at his house wouldn't be mentioned. His eyes narrowed and an evil grin crossed his face. Then again, *Harry* wasn't at his house, now was he?

It took but a moment to summon every house elf in the house. Several were sent around to make sure there wasn't anything that could be considered dark out in plain sight. Not that there ever was, Lucius could not be considered that stupid or foolhardy under any circumstance, but he also wasn't foolish enough to accept that without checking. More house elves went to wake up Severus and Draco while Cattie was sent to wake up Jade. Lucius quickly got dressed and followed.

Harry was sitting up in bed, trying to understand what Cattie was going on about when there came a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

Lucius swept in.

"Good morning, Lucius," Harry smiled.

Lucius found himself smiling back before a memory of last night drifted across his mind. His body reacted to the memory and he stared at the boy on the bed until Harry seemed to realize how Lucius was looking at him and blushed. Lucius shook the thought away as he remembered why he was here. "The Ministry seems to have found out that Harry Potter was here yesterday and have come to try to take him back."

"I wonder how they found out? I wouldn't think anyone from yesterday would have said anything. Besides, I kind of implied that I was still living at the Dursley's and I was only here because Draco was giving me the party." Harry frowned. "What do you want me to do? Leave?"

"Of course not," Lucius was surprised. He'd never even considered that. He smirked evilly. "Harry Potter isn't here. Jade is. That is if you think Jade can fool the Minister of Magic himself."

"That idiot?" Harry's smirk matched the older man's. "Not a problem."

"Just make sure there's nothing that would identify you as Harry Potter up here. Such as," he pointed to the bedside table where Harry's precious photo album had pride of place.

Harry nodded, looking around to see what else needed to be put up as he got out of bed. He headed to the bathroom, before turning to look back at Lucius. "Are you going to stay and watch or do you have other things to do?" He blushed as soon as he realized what he had said, but his eyes stayed locked on the blonde's.

"As much as I would love the show, I do, in fact, have things to do. I will try to keep them downstairs until you're ready." He headed towards the door, then stopped and turned around. "Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?"

Harry stared, stunned. "Are you... are you asking me on a date?"

Lucius smiled gently. "Mmm.. Well, I'm asking a person I am attracted to to go out to dinner, alone, for some conversation and perhaps even a good-night kiss at the end of it. I believe that would qualify as a date, yes."

Harry stared in disbelief for another moment before smiling slowly. "I'd love to."

Lucius took a step forward, drawn to that smile when the wards sounded the alert again, something was happening with the interlopers. "I need to check on what our visitors are doing. I will try to keep them out of here until you're dressed and ready."

Harry nodded his understanding and turned to talk to Cattie as Lucius walked back out of the room. "Will you take all of my presents and boy things, and put them in here please?" he asked as he picked up the hold-all and put his picture album and invisibility cloak inside. Then he handed it to Cattie as he headed for the bathroom. He handled his morning ablutions as quickly as possible, then put on his falsies, underwear and a strapless bra. He stood in front of his wardrobe for a few moments trying to decide what to wear. What kind of impression did he want to give? Finally he smirked and chose, pulling the dress out of the wardrobe and turned around.

"Not that, Cattie," he said, stopping the elf before she could put the jewelry box in the hold-all. As he saw that she was about to punish herself, he spoke up quickly. "It's okay, Cattie. I said to put all of my presents in there. I should have told you to leave that out." He looked around, there was nothing of his boyside left in the room. "Very well done, Cattie."

The house elf beamed at the praise.

He slipped into the dress and stockings then settled at the vanity table in front of his makeup collection. The first thing he did was make sure his scar was covered, before adding light makeup. Then he reached for the jewelry box. Last night he'd added all of his jewelry from the shopping trip to the jade set and now he looked through it. Snake jewelry wouldn't do, it wouldn't go with the image he was trying to portray. While looking at jewelry there had been one set he simply couldn't resist. Butterflies. A collection of butterfly motif jewelry, with gossamer wings of bright sparkly emerald and black that would move slowly once the jewelry clasps were hooked. Sometimes he thought his animagus form should have been a butterfly. But if Jade was the butterfly, was Harry Potter the caterpillar... or the cocoon?

He checked himself over once more and turned to look over the room. Everything seemed to be in place. He picked up the hold-all and slipped it underneath his panties in his underwear drawer and then picked up his wand and slipped it into the pocket all of his dresses and skirts had in them just for that purpose. Luckily the house elves were good with sewing spells and had managed to put the pockets in without making them noticeable even when the wand was in place. He was as ready as he was ever going to be.

Meanwhile, Lucius was quietly seething. The warning from the wards had been the Aurors that came with Fudge spreading out around the house. It seemed the Minister believed they would try to sneak Potter out the back door or some such nonsense. He came close to cursing the man when he walked into the Manor as if he owned it.

"Where is he Malfoy?" Fudge barked out importantly. At least he thought he was important. Lucius thought he sounded more like a barking seal. Or perhaps one of those little toy dogs that were always yapping around your ankles.

"Where is who, Minister?" Lucius asked silkily.

"Harry Potter, of course. We know you're holding him here. How did you kidnap him from his family's house? What have you done to him?" he yapped. Yes, definitely one of those annoying dogs.

"What gives you the idea he's here?" Lucius drawled as if uninterested.

"We know he was here yesterday, he was seen," Cornelius Fudge drew himself up to his full height.

"Considering yesterday was his birthday and his party was held on the grounds, than yes, I quite believe he was seen here. However, that was yesterday. Just because my son decided to host his party here is no reason to believe that Mr. Potter is staying here."

"You don't mind if we have a look around, do you?" Cornelius glared and it was all Lucius could do not to laugh, it was a truly pitiful attempt.

Lucius showed him how it was done and watched with well- hidden delight as the Minister cringed back slightly. He then remembered he had brought a number of Aurors with him and drew himself up. If nothing else, he *outnumbered* Malfoy.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I have a houseguest, and until she is up and about I will not allow your people to go poking around in the guest rooms."

"We're supposed to wait around until some *whore* of yours has gotten out of your bed?" one of the Aurors sneered.

Fudge and most of the Aurors backed up as Lucius allowed the rage he felt to show. "What did you call her?" he growled dangerously.

"Mr. Malfoy? Is there something wrong?" Everyone turned to look at the stairs as Jade came down them.

Lucius felt his rage take a back burner as pride came to the forefront. This alone proved that Harry should have been a Slytherin. He himself could not have chosen a better image to disarm the Aurors. Jade was dressed in a simple pale green calf length sundress. Makeup looked so minimal as to be almost nonexistent and her only jewelry were the butterfly barrettes flapping their wings gently in her hair and a slightly larger pin upon her left breast. She was the very picture of an innocent young girl. Her wide green eyes just added to the picture and the color of the dress had paled her eyes to the color of light green jade instead of the darker shade they usually showed.

"Not at all, Jade. These gentlemen are just looking for Mr. Potter."

Jade turned to him quizzically. "I don't understand. Harry isn't here."

Cornelius Fudge saw a way to get some answers. "Do you know where he is, Jade?"

Lucius turned his cold gaze to the Minister. "Were you given permission to use her name?" he asked silkily.

"Who are these people, Mr. Malfoy?" Jade asked innocently.

"Where are my manners? This is Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic and some of his minions. Fudge, Aurors, this is my houseguest and my son's friend, Jade Jameson."

"It's nice to meet you," Jade smiled. She turned to Lucius, effectively dismissing the men. "Should I go to the kitchens for breakfast, or will you be able to get away by then?"

"Hopefully, I'll be free. Can you wait an hour or so?"

"Of course," Jade murmured. She turned to look as a noise came from above them. "Draco, Professor, you're awake."

It was all Severus Snape could do not to stare. His head knew that the person in front of him had to be Harry, and he'd known that Harry had been dressing as a woman... but this? He'd never expected anything like this. If he hadn't found out about Harry's crossdressing he would have believed this was a young girl he hadn't met. He kept himself from glaring at Lucius. A very young girl. A very young innocent girl who shouldn't even be considering dating a person who was twenty years her senior. He thought that over and then switched it around. A very young innocent girl that a man twenty years her senior shouldn't even be considering dating.

Then Jade looked at him, and suddenly all he could see was Harry. And if there was one thing Harry wasn't, it was young and innocent. Not where it truly counted anyway. Innocent in the ways of love, yes; innocent in the ways of life, not at all.

"Father, Jade, what's going on?" Draco asked as he headed downstairs. His voice turned cold as he realized who the visitors were. "Minister."

"Snape," Fudge snarled. "What are you doing here?"

"Is there some rule saying I cannot come visit old friends that I was unaware of?" Severus' tone could have frozen the blood of a vampire.

"When it has something to do with Harry Potter, yes, there is!" Fudge barked out.

"What is this about Potter?" Snape asked.

"It sounds to me as if he didn't want Harry to have a party for his birthday," Jade put in. "But that's silly, isn't it?"

Fudge ignored her. "Bring Harry Potter down here so we can return him to his family. Then we'll decide whether to charge you with kidnapping or not."

Jade burst into giggles and Draco found himself snickering with her. Lucius and Severus had much better control of themselves and kept the blank look on their faces. "You're kidding," Jade finally burst out.

Draco shook his head. "Harry isn't here. He just came over yesterday to spend time with us and have his party here."

"You expect me to believe that Harry Potter would willingly come to Malfoy Manor on his own? Everyone knows he hates all three of you." He turned to the Aurors with him. I want this place searched from top to bottom. Leave no stone unturned." He glared back at Malfoy as the men spread out through the mansion. "When we find him, we'll have everything we need to finally take you in and send you to Azkaban." He tried to sweep off, but didn't do it half as well as Malfoy or Snape.

"He really is stupid, isn't he?" Jade murmured. "If you kidnapped Harry, than why would you have given him a birthday party and invited all of his friends?"

"For that matter, if we weren't friends, why would we have given him a party?" Draco said disgustedly.

"Draco, go with the Aurors to the East Wing and make sure they don't break anything. Remind them that fair recompense for anything damaged will come from either their paychecks, or their hides. Severus, if you could do the same for the ones in the West Wing? Jade and I will deal with the morons in this portion." Draco and Severus agreed easily, turning around and heading out. He turned to Harry. "I'm very proud of you," he smiled down at the teen. "Everything was perfect, your dress, your attitude, all of it."

Harry's eyes showed his happiness as he smiled up at Lucius. "Thank you," was all he said.

"I'm going to try to keep him away from you, but you might get stuck with Fudge. Just keep acting like you have been, the innocent little girl act is *very* effective." A noise of something falling broke their conversation and Lucius cursed as he went to see what it was. Harry headed upstairs.

He was very annoyed to find the Minister in his bedroom. "Are you looking for something in particular?" he asked.

"Ah, Jade," the Minister turned and smirked at the girl. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"Why? Is there something the matter?"

"Not at all, not at all, I just have some questions to ask." Fudge's smile was oily.

"Sure," Jade replied, "but could we not do it while you're going through my clothes? Somehow, I don't think you'll find Harry Potter in amongst my dresses." Technically, that wasn't true, of course. Harry was indeed among one of Jade's dresses, but Fudge had better not even *think* of looking through that one.

"But you do know where Harry is, don't you my dear?"

"Why would I know that? I'd imagine he's with his family." Technically true... if you thought about it the right way.

"I didn't hear anything about you being at the so-called party," Fudge pried.

"That's because I wasn't," Jade replied easily, leading the way out of her room. "The party was for family and really close friends. Although I have met Harry, I didn't feel it would be right to show up at his party where most people wouldn't recognize me." Again, it was technically true. He was getting good at this. "I saw him that morning and again before he left."

"And how did he get here?"

"Well, I heard something about portkeys being sent out yesterday morning." Jade informed him.

They went through several more rooms where Fudge seemed more to be prying into private lives than looking for a person. Then, he decided to try a different track.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm spending the summer here. Draco invited me."

"Ah, so you're his girlfriend," Fudge said patronizingly. "You do realize he's a dark wizard and used to work for You- Know-Who. One of these days we will get enough on him and his father to send them both to prison."

Jade just laughed. "Number one, I'm not his girlfriend, just a friend. Number two, whether he's a dark wizard or not, and I don't accept Ministry standards for that, he's not a bad person as long as you don't annoy him too bad and he never worked for Voldemort and number three, only in your dreams."

"You do know living here with only two men for company could truly ruin a girl's reputation if it got out," Fudge said in a way he probably thought was threatening.

"I'll take my chances, thank you," Jade said dismissively.

That pretty much did it for conversation. Still it was almost an hour and a half later that the Ministry officials finally left, grumbling about the waste of their time.

Part 16/?

"Finally," Draco grumbled. "I thought he'd never leave." He shook his head as the four of them walked towards the small dining room in which they usually ate breakfast.

"When dealing with Fudge, there is really only one thing you need to remember." Lucius told them. "The man is a moron with no morals. As long as you keep that in mind, he's fairly easy to deal with."

"Why is he still the Minister?" Harry grumbled. "You would have thought that all of that business with Voldemort would have forced him out."

"We never received enough votes to impeach him. People were too busy celebrating to worry about it. They tend to be fickle that way." Lucius told her.

"You don't have to tell me," Harry remarked unhappily. "Can't you run for Minister?"

"Me? You want me to run?"

"Why not Father?" Draco asked intently. "You could certainly do a better job than that idiot."

"That's certainly true. Of course, even Percival Weasley would probably do a better job than Fudge," Snape added. "Still, I do believe that you would do a more than adequate job."

"I would support you. Under certain circumstances of course," Harry murmured.

"Should I ask what circumstances those would be?" Lucius purred.

"Well, first..." Harry leaned towards him. "I want you to..."

"Yes?" Lucius asked, leaning forward as well.

"Repeal the werewolf laws, as well as any other that allows you to treat sentient beings as less than human, especially when it is a case such as Remus'. There are things weres can do to keep themselves from hurting others; locking themselves up during those nights or the Wolfsbane potion. If they refuse to take responsibility for their change and someone gets hurt, than they need to be tried for assault or murder. They should not, however, be refused their rights as humans.

"Speaking of trials, that's number two. We have a number of truth spells and potions, there is absolutely no reason that someone should be sent to prison without, at the very least being given a chance to prove their innocence. And what Fudge did with Crouch after Voldemort's return? That was completely uncalled for. And yes, Sirius' situation as well. I want a rule that no one can be sent to prison or given the Dementor's Kiss without a trial and interrogation under truth potion or spell.

"Number three, restructure the laws about both Dark Arts and Muggle artifacts. Neither one of them are fair to anyone. Muggles and magic-users need to be working together, through the Muggleborns if necessary. However with the wizarding world's total dislike of anything Muggle, we are falling behind in possibilities. As for Dark Arts, that's just ridiculous. Yes, there are some spells and potions that should not be used, but if things go on like they are, how long is it going to be before someone tries to get 'Wingardium Leviosa' banned because someone could use it to drop a rock on someone else? And why is it so much worse to use one killing curse, when there are two dozen I can think of off-hand that would do the exact same thing? Why is it worse to use the Cruciatus than it is to use a curse that would flay all the skin off your body?

"As for the Muggle situation, we're losing too much. I know quite a few Muggleborn or half-bloods that are going to end up leaving the wizarding world for the Muggle one. I can't blame them, I've thought about it myself. With the prejudices against them, and the fact that the Muggle world can be much more comfortable, with a higher technology and standard of living, why wouldn't they? The prejudice has got to end unless you want another Voldemort. I've been waiting for someone to say that Muggleborns or half-bloods have to be watched because Voldemort was one, so others could try to become a Dark Lord, ignoring the fact that he was killing Muggles. Or so he said. Actually he just seemed to be killing anyone he could get his hands on."

The other three had been watching Harry with surprise as he spoke. They hadn't been expecting that.

"You feel seriously about this," Lucius said softly.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I do. The wizarding world is stagnant, and it would be even more so without the Muggleborns. Most of the new spells, enchanted items and even potions are created by Muggleborns... or Severus of course," he grinned. "Those who aren't told from the moment they're born what is and isn't possible, tend to try things purebloods won't, and make them work. Purebloods tend to be so caught up in tradition and keeping your power base, you don't want to try anything new. Life is about change, and if the wizarding world doesn't allow change, and don't try to tell me Fudge wouldn't outlaw change if he could figure out a way, it's going to dry up and die."

"So... what?" Draco asked. "You expect us to just suddenly announce to the Muggle world that we're around and we can do things they can't?"

"Don't be stupid," Harry looked disgusted. "It can't be sudden, it's got to be gradual, and we've got to be deeply entrenched before we come out, but it's also got to go both ways. Start with the kids; books, television shows, computer and video games. Show Muggle kids our way of life and our kids their way of life. Then candy and toys; again, let it go both ways. I can promise you that all kids would love Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans."

"How did we get on this topic?" Snape asked as he finished breakfast that Harry had yet to touch.

Harry turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Memory going? We were talking about what Lucius needs to do when he becomes Minister of Magic."

"So sure I'm going to be able to do it? Or indeed, that I wish to?" Lucius asked, interested.

"Of course," Harry stared at him as if he had said something truly dumb. "Don't try to tell me you're not interested. You might not be a bad guy, but you're definitely ambitious and you've got a thirst for power. Minister of Magic is probably the most powerful position in wizarding England at this moment. With your reputation as one of the saviors of the wizarding world and with the backing of the other three, you'd have an excellent chance of getting the position. The only thing that might be a problem would be..." His voice trailed off.

"You," Snape finished when Harry didn't.

"Why would Harry be a liability? I'd think he'd be an asset," Draco frowned.

"As a supporter, Harry would be an asset, but as my lover..." Lucius left it at that, leaving his son to figure it out by himself. There were two ways it could go, depending on what was known. If it was known that *Harry Potter* was his lover, then the world would believe he was trying to corrupt their precious savior. Not to mention having lost some people's support simply because he preferred males. However, if only *Jade* was known, then the fact that he was dating a sixteen year old would be the most important aspect. A fact that many people would disapprove of because of the partly because of the disparity of their ages but mostly her youth.

"You could, oh I don't know, not be involved?" Snape suggested, only to be hit by glares from three separate directions. "Or not."

"If it comes up, we could always say that Jade is my girlfriend. At least until you're actually voted in," Draco suggested.

Lucius shook his head. "That might work for a while, but if I'm going to go for the job, I need to be able to keep it, and I would not do that to either of you for long. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Then simply don't announce it," Draco shrugged. "Get the job and then just show up with her. They won't vote you out because you've got a young girlfriend."

"That does seem the best option," Severus agreed. "However, it means the two of you should not be seen out in public together."

"I had intended to take him to the 'Golden Lyre' tonight," Lucius mused.

"To get Fudge out of office, I think I can forgo a date, even if it was our first," Harry said bravely, though a little sadly.

"You actually asked him out on a date?" Draco yelped, surprised. At their nods, he grinned. "Fantastic! I was starting to wonder if you had it in you, Father." He thought for a moment. "Well, if you can't take him to a wizarding restaurant, then you'll just have to take him to a Muggle one. I'm sure there are some very nice ones around."

"There are," Harry agreed. "However, in most of them you need a reservation and we don't even know where they are."

"So go see Jeri. Surely she knows some good restaurants and how to get reservations. Besides, it's been a couple of days."

Harry nodded. "I could do that," he said softly. "However," he turned to look at Lucius.

"Yes?" he inquired. "Whatever it is, just ask. If it has to do with our date, I doubt I will say no."

"Well," Harry said hesitantly. "Those clothes you wore the other day looked nice, but they're a little old fashioned. If we're going somewhere really nice, then you should probably wear a nice suit. And it wouldn't hurt you any to get some regular Muggle clothes."

"Hmm..." Lucius contemplated. "I will agree with the suit, but I'll have to think about the other clothes."

Draco grinned evilly. "Well, you know Father, he can't really check out your arse in those robes you wear."

"Draco!" Harry shrieked, blushing furiously.

The two older men smirked. "You do have a point there, Draco," Lucius agreed. "However, it depends on whether Harry *wants* to as you say 'check out my arse', doesn't it?"

Harry, though still blushing, rallied enough to join in. "It would be a major selling point."

Draco just laughed.

Severus decided to get the conversation back on track. He really didn't want to know if Harry was checking out Lucius' ass, or any other part for that matter. "If we are going to try to do this, we have to get Fudge out of office first. How do you plan to do that? Because if you have blackmail on him, I would have hoped you would have used it by now."

"He might not," Harry's blush had faded and he was intent on the subject. "But I have something almost as good. My reputation. I've got a list of several major mistakes and errors in judgment I, personally, know he has made. If I could get a list of more, that would be great. If not, I'll go with what I have. I figure I can call a press conference sometime soon, to talk about Voldemort's defeat and other things. Now that I'm sixteen, Dumbledore can't forbid me from talking to reporters as he's done for the past several months. If the speech is written correctly, which I'm sure the four of us can pull off, I'd expect him to be out of office within a day."

"Dumbledore too?" Draco said eagerly.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. He's too firmly entrenched in the minds of everyone as a good guy, going after him at this point would just undo everything. Besides, I couldn't explain why I don't like him without going into how I grew up, and that's not something I want out in the world unless I absolutely have to."

Draco nodded as both Severus and Lucius put a hand on his shoulders and silently showed their support.

"So," Harry pulled himself together and said brightly. "Do we have a plan?"

"We have a plan," the others agreed.

"If we were going to take over the world why didn't we just do it when we killed Voldemort?" Draco asked humorously.

"Where would be the fun in that?" Harry grinned back.


	7. Chapter 17 and 18

Sorry this is late. I might have to move the Monday date to Sunday. Yesterday, I subbed in a high school, for the second time ever (first time was on Friday). It was a good day, but it started pouring down rain halfway through the day. By the time school got out, the place was practically flooded, and it was still raining. I got absolutely soaked before I got to my car. Anyway, I just completely forgot about getting this out.

Chapter 18 is one of my favorite chapters, I hope you like it too! Thanks for everyone who's written! I love reviews!

Jade Green Eyes

by Jendra

Part 17/?

"So, I'm heading into town. Is anyone coming with me?" Harry asked as he went to stand up. Lucius was instantly there at his side, pulling his chair out and helping him out of it. The other two hid their smiles.

"While you go visit your girlfriends? I don't think so," Draco grinned.

"Sev?"

"I think not. Knowing you, you'd try to get me to buy Muggle clothes, or something worse. I will stay here today. However, I do feel there is no reason to waste my time here." Harry and Draco groaned, they knew what was coming. "I expect to see both of you in the workrooms downstairs tomorrow morning at eight."

"Yes, sir," they moaned, looking dejected. In truth neither of them were. They were used to spending a couple of hours every day on extra tutoring with the potions professor. Draco

was his unofficial apprentice, and if it hadn't been for Dumbledore would have spent at least part of the summer at Snape Manor as Harry would have if possible. They both enjoyed the time they spent together, working, learning and talking. Their friendship had come about through those talks. They had learned to be animagi together during that time. This summer they had been planning on learning Apparation. Severus probably wouldn't have time to teach them that, but whatever their lessons would be, they were never boring. Maybe Lucius could join them, surely he would have things to teach as well.

"Come on Harry, if you're planning on leaving, we need to make sure you can get back if necessary." Lucius led Harry out of the room with a hand on his lower back.

"How are we going to do this? You need to go shopping sometime today as well. Not to mention, how do I let you know if we do get reservations?"

"Do you have a small mirror?" Lucius asked.

"Of course," Harry said. "I'll need to get it from my room."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "I refuse to believe you do not know how to bring it to you."

"Underage, remember?" Harry raised an eyebrow right back. "Which is another rule I don't agree with by the way."

"And you don't think that the Manor is shielded so that the Ministry couldn't tell you were using magic? How did you expect Severus to teach you anything tomorrow if you couldn't use it?"

Harry shook his head at his own denseness. He really should have realized that. One small spell and he was holding a small compact. He opened it up to show the circular mirror inside. "Will this do?"

"Perfectly," Lucius smiled. He led the two of them out to stand in front of a mirror on one of the walls in his study. Harry had always wondered why the mirror was there. Although obviously antique and well taken care of, it still did not quite fit the decor of a room made for books and work. Lucius was not that vain.

Reaching out his hand, he pressed one of the indentations on the mirror frame and whispered a word. The mirror shimmered and seemed to disappear, leaving a space behind it with items clear to be seen. Lucius reached in and pulled out a potion bottle and a small box. Another touch of his hand and whispered word and the mirror was back to its normal sheen.

Lucius carefully removed the small mirror from it's backing and adhered it to the larger mirror. He opened the potion bottle, put some of the potion on his fingers and rubbed it over half of the small mirror while saying simply "Harry". "You do the same," he said, holding out the bottle. Harry followed the directions without question.

After it was done Lucius removed the small mirror and placed it back in the compact. Then he touched the big mirror. "Voco Harry."

Harry started. It was as if someone had just whispered his name. He looked down at the compact he was holding and blinked again. Instead of showing his reflection, it showed what was reflected in the big mirror. He looked up at the big mirror, and it was showing the reflection from the small one. "Move to the other end of the room," Lucius suggested and Harry realized he was hearing it twice. Once from the man's own lips and the other from the small mirror he was still holding.

Slowly Harry did as he was bid. When he was as far away as possible in the small room, he looked back at the older man. Lucius smiled and gestured down before turning away to face his mirror. Harry looked down and saw Lucius staring back at him. "Hello Harry."

"Hello, Lucius," Harry grinned back.

"I've always found this to be a far more acceptable way to get in touch with someone than floo calls."

"I'd say," Harry laughingly agreed. "What are the drawbacks, though? Because I know there have to be some."

"Very good question," Lucius said approvingly. "The main problem is a limit to the number of mirrors you can connect to. A small mirror, such as yours can only link to one. A larger one such as this one in the study can link to a larger number."

"But no one can call a mirror unless the two are connected, right?" Harry asked, contemplatively.

"Correct," Lucius agreed.

"So, how does it work, if I want to call you?"

"As in the Floo Network, every mirror has a designation. This one, for instance, is Malfoy Study. When you're ready, simply touch your mirror and say 'Voco Malfoy Study'. If I am in the Manor, I will hear that I have a mirror call. To end it, simply say 'Finite Voco'." The mirror suddenly showed only his own face looking up at him.

Harry looked up to see Lucius looking challengingly at him. "Voco Malfoy Study," he said as he touched the mirror's surface. Suddenly Lucius was looking at him from much closer.

"If you're done playing..." Lucius murmured and Harry chuckled as he ended the call and headed back over.

Once he got there he saw that Lucius had opened the box.

Inside were three empty indentations and three small copies of the Malfoy crest. "These are very special things that only the oldest of houses have. They are also one of the reasons I don't trust Dumbledore." Harry looked at him in surprise. Not that he didn't trust Dumbledore, because they were certainly of one mind on that score, but that he didn't trust him because of sigils?

"What this is, is a special portkey called an emblem portkey. Once they have been in a place for a certain amount of time, at least a century, although more is preferable, then, when activated, they will always return the person wearing it to that particular place. It doesn't matter if the person is a room away, or on the other side of the world. They will always be returned, to the designated room, in this case, this study. It is impossible to stop them, and they are invisible to everyone who doesn't wear one from that particular house. They also cannot be taken from you for as long as you're alive.

"From the moment you entered the school, giving you one of the Hogwarts' emblem portkeys should have been Dumbledore's first action. Just as giving one to Severus should have been the first action after he became a spy. Leaving the two of you without this protection is something I would consider criminal negligence."

"Do you mean, if I had one of these, I would have been able to get back to Hogwarts immediately after Voldemort portkeyed me out?"

"Yourself and the person that had gone with you. The older the building is, the stronger the emblems are, no one is quite sure why. However Hogwarts is certainly old enough that an emblem portkey would have transported two people with no trouble."

Harry cursed explosively. He started pacing back and forth as he vented his anger. His hands went to run through his hair, only to be caught by the barrettes he was still wearing.

Lucius frowned as he watched Harry tugging at the barrettes and the hair around them. After one particularly vicious yank, he decided to intervene. "Harry, that's enough!" he ordered. For once though, even that tone of voice did not get him what he desired. Finally, he was forced to grab Harry's hands and hold them down by his sides. Instantly Harry started struggling against him and Lucius was very surprised to find that it took almost all of his strength to keep hold of the much smaller youth.

Lucius shouted in his face, trying to calm him down, get him to listen, but it just seemed to make him even more out of control. Finally, the blonde decided he had only two options to shock Harry out of this, and he was not willing to slap Harry, not even for his own good. Instead he bent down and kissed the boy as hard as he could.

Slowly, Harry calmed as Lucius' lips and tongue gave him something much more pleasant to concentrate on then the morass of memories and emotions he had been stuck within. He started participating in the kiss, making a pleased noise as Lucius let go of his wrists and he was able to wrap his arms around the other man's neck. Lucius' own hands moved to wrap around his back.

As the kiss went on and got more desperate, his hands moved down until they were grasping the green eyed boys ass cheeks. Harry finally broke the kiss, needing air to moan out his feelings. Lucius transferred his attentions, nibbling along Harry's jawbone until he reached his ear, sucking on the lobe for a moment before swirling his tongue around the whirls and inside of his ear. By now Harry could do nothing but hold on, hold himself up and whimper.

"Lucius," he moaned.

"Hey, Dad, has Harry left yet?" A voice interrupted them for a second day in a row. Lucius' tongue stopped and he slowly pulled away to glare at his son. "I'll um... take that as a no." Draco started backing away from the look in his dad's eyes. He rushed out.

Harry sighed and laid his head on Lucius' shoulder. "I really do need to get going," he murmured.

Lucius' hands left their very comfortable positions and gently rubbed over Harry's back. "I suppose," he sighed, reluctantly pulling back. Harry's lips were swollen and his eyes darkened with passion. It was all Lucius could do not to drag the beautiful boy back into his arms and take up where they'd stopped. "You'd better get out of here before I ravish you again," he said. He tried for humorous, but there was too much truth in the statement. Only the fact that Harry truly wasn't ready to go farther kept him from reaching out again.

"I'll call you when I find out about dinner," Harry muttered.

Lucius handed him the emblem portkey that he had almost left without and another he picked up from his desk. "This will take you to Diagon. Are you sure I can't convince you to take someone with you?"

Harry just smiled shakily. "I'll be fine. I know how to get to Jeri's shop from there, and the girls will take care of me then. I'll... I'll see you later."

"Later, Harry."

Part 18/?

Lucius went to find his son and friend. Harry had just called to say they had reservations at a very nice restaurant that night at seven, so it was up to Lucius to get himself some nice clothes. He had told Harry he could handle it himself. That did not, however, mean he couldn't share the *enjoyment* of shopping with his friends and family, now did it? Of course not.

The three men Floo'd to Diagon Alley and went to Gringotts to exchange wizarding money for Muggle then headed through the Leaky Cauldron and outside. Regardless how they felt about the Muggle world all three knew at least enough to use money and wave down a taxi.

"Where to?" the cabbie asked.

Draco leaned forward. "My dad's got a date tonight and he seriously needs some new clothes."

"I'll say," the cabbie said, looking over the older blonde. His eye was suddenly caught by the glare in blue silver eyes. He paled and turned around. "I know the perfect place," he gulped.

They pulled up in front of an upscale mens clothing store and paid the driver who happily drove off making a mental note *not* to be around when they came out. Those two older guys were scary.

"Why are we going to a place where there are clothes on a rack instead of a tailor?" Lucius asked.

"Because we don't have time for a tailor to make you a new suit." Draco told him. Looking around, he headed towards one of the sales associates.

"Can I help you?" the salesman asked politely.

"My father," Draco grabbed him and pulled him forward, "is going on a date tonight. He needs a nice suit, one acceptable for 'Chez Antoine'.

"Certainly," the young man said, leading the way to their nicer and more pricey suits. "Do you know what your date will be wearing? It would help with colors and style."

Lucius considered. "What exactly she is wearing, no, but she tends towards greens."

"No, Father, I don't think so. She'll probably want to wear the jewelry you just got her," Draco butted in. "So the dress would probably be black, to show off the silver and jade."

"That's good. Jade you said? About this color?" he pulled down a shirt the color of pale jade.

"Not at all," Lucius murmured. "Jade's eyes are this color," reaching out and pulling down another.

Draco left his father to the competent hands of the sale staff and went off to find the other adult. "Hey, Sev, see anything around here that Harry might like?"

Severus looked at his student. "I think all of these are a little too masculine for Harry right now," he smirked.

Draco grinned back. "You never know. I'm going to try to talk Father into taking Harry out as a guy to a gay club one of these days." He thought for a moment. "Okay, let me change that, I'm going to try to talk Harry into going out as a guy with my dad."

"You certainly took it well," Severus remarked.

"I guess I did. How about you?" Draco asked eagerly.

"I believe I reacted... appropriately."

/Flashback/

Severus' eyes went past Harry, and for the first time he took in the room. He frowned, perplexed. "Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are there dresses and skirts hanging in your wardrobe?" Harry blinked and looked around quickly, his eyes wide.

"Um..."

"And is that a make-up collection on your dresser?"

"Uh..."

"And what, exactly, is this?" He stepped forward and picked up Draco's present.

Harry looked at what was in his hands and blushed even as his grinned. "That was an experiment of Draco's."

"An experiment?" Severus raised his eyebrow to punctuate the question.

"Yes, he was trying to see if it was possible for me to die of embarrassment." Harry blushed even harder. "He gave it to me as a present... in front of Lucius."

Severus thought of how that must have looked and grinned slightly. "I almost wish I'd been here to see that."

"I'm glad you weren't. I really would have died then." Harry groaned.

"It never has been proved if a person can expire from mortification," Severus said thoughtfully. His eyes got intent again. "That does not explain the rest."

Harry took a deep breath. "They're Jade's."

"Jade's?"

Harry just nodded, looking down. Severus frowned. Obviously, whatever was going on was important to the boy by how worried he was about his own reaction. "Harry?" he prompted, "Who's Jade?"

Harry was silent for a moment, and Severus looked at him closely. He was trembling. Severus moved immediately although making sure that he didn't move so sharply that he'd scare his child. In moments he was next to Harry, pulling him close and leaving an arm over his shoulder. "I thought you could tell me anything?" he said softly.

"I can," Harry responded almost silently.

"And you know I won't get truly angry, right? Not if you blow up my classroom," Harry's sotto voice'd 'It was only once' was manfully ignored. "Not if you dye my hair red and gold," Harry giggled, he remembered that too. "Not even if you date a man twenty years your senior who's one of my best friends from school."

"Not even if I..." Harry trailed off.

"Not even if you're sleeping with a girl named Jade while dating a man twenty years your senior," Severus told him.

Harry laughed and some of the tension receded.

"Not even if I am Jade?"

Severus blinked and a mask came down over his features as he tried to understand what he'd just been told.

"*You* are Jade?"

Harry just nodded.

Severus took a look around at all the female accouterments and then back at Harry. "So all these things... are yours?"

Harry nodded again.

"And you wear them?"

Harry found a chuckle struggling to escape. He took a quick glance up to see the older man's face was a mask and oddly enough, that reassured him. Severus didn't usually worry about hiding his reactions when he was angry or annoyed, or even unhappy.

"Why?"

"Because... nobody recognizes me, or expects anything of me. Not as Jade. Jade is... safe. Safe to be, safe to be with. Nobody hurts others over me, or tries to hurt me." Severus squeezed him a little tighter against his side.

"Surely there were other ways?" Severus suggested. "There are glamorie potions, or polyjuice."

Harry shook his head immediately. "Not polyjuice. I didn't want to take over someone else's life. That'd almost be worse. Regular glamorie potions wouldn't cover the scar. Stupid curse scar." he said in an aside. "I'm sure, if I'd gone to you about it, you could have come up with something that would have worked, but..."

"But what?" Severus was patient.

"I don't know how to explain it that won't sound stupid," Harry said.

"And since when have you ever worried about sounding stupid in my presence? It is, after all, something you have been doing for five years now." Severus was watching closely to make sure he hadn't gone too far, but as usual, the teasing insults caused Harry to laugh.

"Covering my scar is fine, it's not mine. It might be the most recognizable part of me, but it's not *mine* you know?"

"Just as my Dark Mark was not mine," Severus agreed. "It was a part of me, but it was forced upon me by someone I did not want anything from."

"And then used to define you ever after," Harry acknowledged.

"Indeed," the ex-Death Eater responded.

"My eyes, my hair, they're mine. I don't want to change them. I could have, easily, even within the Muggle world. I could have dyed my hair and gotten color contacts, but that seemed wrong. I don't really understand why changing my *gender* or at least, what others perceive to be my gender, isn't as wrong as changing my eye color, but it's just not. Maybe because my eyes are from my mom, and my hair is from my dad, but my gender is just from chance, and yes, I know the others are just by chance too, but it's still different. I don't want to be a girl, but I like being treated by one. I like wearing comfortable clothes that look pretty after too long wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs. I like being looked at as Jade, because I know that all people are seeing is me. Not quite the me my schoolmates know, but still, just me. No scar, no reputation, just... me.

"I've been to Diagon Alley. Several times."

Severus felt his breath hitch. "After Hogsmeade?"

Harry nodded, snuggling closer. "I didn't have any trouble. Nobody recognized me."

Severus turned and wrapped both arms around the boy and rested his cheek against Harry's bent head. "Then I'm glad," he murmured.

/End Flashback/

"Of course, even with everything he said, it did not truly hit me until this morning," Severus continued. "I don't think I could truly grasp what he was talking about until I saw Jade. There was no way I could even imagine..."

"I know what you mean," Draco grinned. "I think it was easier for me and Dad because we saw Jade first. To see a pretty girl accosting you, and only afterwards realize it's your best friend..." He shook his head.

He looked around. "Hey, Sev, what do you think about these?" He held up a pair of black leather pants.

"For whom?" Severus replied, looking at them with a sneer.

"All four of us actually," Draco said contemplatively.

"Four?"

"Umm..." Draco nodded. "I honestly don't know if Jade will be a lifetime thing with him. It's likely it's just a phase you know, and after spending several months as a boy at school, he'll decide to go back to being a boy full time. Even if he doesn't, I think he should spend at least a little time as a boy, besides, there's still that gay club idea."

"Which Harry is too young to go into, regardless of what he's wearing at the time," Snape said repressively.

"Well, regardless of whether they wear them out, or even if we do, I think Dad and Harry would look wicked in these pants. I know I would." Draco wouldn't let himself be sidetracked. "They'd really show off their ass...ets," he grinned.

"And why should you be worrying about whose assets are making a lewd display?" Snape sneered.

"What's the matter with you, Sev?" Draco asked, perplexed. "I thought you were fine with Father and Harry, but you keep making these belittling comments."

"It is simply part of my personality," Snape bit out. "I thought you knew that by now."

"We know your personality quite well, Severus," Lucius' smooth voice came from behind them. He put up a silencing spell around them, so no one else could listen in as he had done. "And this is not normal. You told Harry and myself that you were okay with it. If you lied, we need to know."

Severus glared. "In my head, I know that both of you can make your own decisions. I even see what you see in each other and why you would be drawn together. I can understand all of that. I see you make him happy. I even see he makes you happy. That's fine. I understand. In My Head. But not even for me, does all my thinking happen in my head. And my heart sees something entirely different." He turned away to pace and the others let him have his space. Finally he turned quickly around and stared at Lucius.

"Imagine, just imagine Draco was gay. Do you have that? Can you imagine that?" Lucius nodded, ignoring his son's 'I can't'. "You're son goes up to you one day and tells you he's in love, and dating...Me." He barked that last word and Lucius startled. "What's your first reaction?"

Lucius was calm and unruffled once more and looked steadily back at his friend. "I'm happy for you both." he said.

Draco saw what his teacher was going for, and decided to help. "Severus! I thought we weren't going to tell him!" he pouted, slinking up to the black haired man and snuggling close. Severus' head dropped down as if he was going to give the blond boy a kiss.

"Get your hands off my son!" Lucius roared.

Everything stopped and Lucius had a dumbfounded look on his face. He hadn't been expecting that reaction.

"Oh," Lucius said quietly.

"Yes," Severus affirmed. "Now you see."


	8. Chapter 19, 20, 21 and 22

Four chapters today because I wanted to get all the way through the night. Hope you enjoy! Comments are nice! Really... they are! ^_^

Jade Green Eyes

by Jendra

Part 19/?

Lucius was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting, semi-patiently for his date. He hadn't seen Harry since he returned from shopping, although the house elves confirmed that he had returned. Severus and Draco were hanging around the front hall as well, seemingly busy with something or other, but really there just to heckle them. A sound at the top of the stairs brought his eyes up and he stopped and stared.

Draco had been right. His date was dressed in a black dress and wearing some of the jade jewelry. But that didn't describe him at all. If his clothes, hair and make-up had made him look younger this morning, tonight's had exactly the opposite effect. His hair was swept up in some sophisticated style and his make-up followed the same theme. The black dress was sleeveless and caught the top in a wide collar, it drifted down his body, not too tightly, flirting with his curves instead of hugging them and ending in a slanted hem. Black high heeled sandals with straps gave him another inch and a half of height. The only color was his pale skin and the jade and silver jewelry that sparkled at his waist, wrist and neck.

"You look beautiful," he said sincerely as Harry carefully walked down the stairs. He was confident enough in the heels on flat floor, but stairs were still a trial.

"You look very handsome, yourself," Harry answered, his eyes running over the black Armani suit the older man was wearing.

Lucius put his hand out to help Harry down the last few stairs. He frowned very slightly as he checked him over one more time.

"What's the matter?" Harry was instantly worried when he saw that frown. He was wearing everything he should, his make-up was on right, why was Lucius frowning?

"Where's your emblem?" Lucius growled.

Harry sighed in relief. Was that all? He reached into the pocket the house elves had had a difficult time putting in the dress, and pulled it out. "You didn't really think I'd leave without it, did you?" he smiled.

"I should have known better," Lucius agreed. He nodded at the two interested bystanders and gathered Harry to him as he pulled out a Diagon Alley portkey. He was very glad that he had scouted around the restaurant earlier that day and found a place he could safely Apparate to. He did not want to worry about dealing with cab drivers or the like. They used the portkey to Diagon then Lucius gathered Harry to him and held on tight as he Apparated to an empty alcove near the restaurant.

Holding hands the two walked into 'Chez Antoine'.

"May I help you?" the maitre d' asked respectfully. He might never have seen these two before, but he could tell quality when he saw it.

"Reservations for two for Malfoy." Lucius intoned.

After a quick check, the maitre d' led the way to a secluded corner. "Here you are. Your waiter, Jacque, will be here momentarily." He handed them their menu's and left them alone.

Harry looked at his menu and frowned slightly.

"Is there something wrong?" Lucius asked.

"I can't read French," Harry admitted.

Lucius smiled slightly. "Would you like me to read it for you?" he asked.

"Actually, would you mind just ordering for me? Just... no snails, please," Harry grinned.

"I'd be happy too," Lucius smiled. He was a little surprised, from what he'd seen Harry he would eat anything, probably because of the years of having no food. Of course, it was probably just the thought of eating snails. One of these days he'd have to introduce Harry to true escargot, but tonight he would stick to things he was sure the boy would like. "Would you like some wine, or something non-alcoholic?"

"Um... non please, although I wouldn't mind trying a sip or two if you want to have some." When the waiter came by, Lucius ordered in fluent French.

Once the waiter had brought their drinks, they sat in silence looking at each other awkwardly.

Finally Harry started to giggle. "Aren't you supposed to actually *talk* to each other on a date?"

"That is a normal part of a date I believe," Lucius smiled back. "I know quite a bit about you, so why don't you ask me questions?"

Harry thought for a moment, before looking around to make sure no other tables were close enough to hear. The restaurant was set up well, all tables far enough away from one another to at least give the illusion of privacy, and their table was even more isolated. "Well, people tend to ask things like favorite color, but looking around your house, that's pretty obvious," he grinned. "I know, what's your favorite spell?"

Lucius looked surprised, but if Harry wanted to start out light, that was more than fine with him. "Favorite spell, hmm? Well, there's a spell you've probably never heard of, illegal of course, but not dark. It's called the Eidetic Memory charm. In effect it allows you to have total recall of everything you experience for about fifteen minutes after the spell, and that recall will last for six hours."

Harry looked confused. "You mean if you read a book, you'd recall everything you read clearly for the next six hours?"

"A bit more than that," Lucius said. "You don't have to read the book, just look at it. You'd be able to bring a page that you'd only glanced at to the forefront of your mind and read it as if it was right in front of you."

"Why is that illegal? Or did you just mean illegal for me, since I'm a student? I can certainly understand that it might lead to cheating."

"Actually, it doesn't work too well for that," Lucius grinned. "The ones that tried to use it for that, tended to just write down what the book said, word for word, so they were caught."

"Then why is it illegal? And why is it your favorite spell?"

Lucius smirked. "It's one of what are known as the Slytherin spells, a collection of useful spells all Slytherins are eventually taught, especially once you finagled your way into the Restricted Section."

Harry blinked and sat up straighter as he started to understand. "You mean..."

Lucius nodded. "I, like many of my compatriots, especially Severus, would go into the Restricted Section and find a book I wanted, say the charm and then glance through the book. Then I'd go back to my room and use a dictating quill and some blank books and recite everything in the book. The only problems were pictures. The reason it is illegal, is because it

completely bypasses all of the copyright charms that are on most books. I've done the same for the Ministry library, and the ones at Riddle Mansion. By now, I probably have around two hundred books that I've copied that way."

"In Ron's terms, that's absolutely brilliant," Harry grinned.

Lucius shrugged. "It's something Slytherins have been doing for centuries. Now I've told you mine, what's your favorite spell?"

"Easy," Harry told him. "Animagus transformation. I love my animagus form, and flying on my own wings is the best feeling in the world."

Lucius raised one eyebrow. "The best? In that case, I obviously have to work on my kissing."

Harry blushed, chagrined. "I meant *before* we met." He hurried to say.

"Are you saying you don't want me to work on my kissing? That I don't need any more practice?" Lucius hid a grin, waiting to see Harry get himself out of this one.

Harry calmed, and smirked right back. "Your kissing technique is very near perfect, you don't need any practice at all."

"So, I don't need to kiss you anymore?" Lucius asked silkily.

"I didn't say that," Harry said quickly. "I said *you* didn't need any more practice. I, however, am a novice of the art, and need all of the practice I can get. Unless, of course, you would prefer I practice with someone else?"

"Only if you want their head taken off," Lucius said sternly, and did not seem as if he were joking at all.

"Well, then, you'll just have to put up with being my teacher, won't you?" Harry said. Lucius was surprised to notice that his possessive words hadn't seemed to phase the boy at all.

The appetizers came then, and there were several minutes of silence as they ate. Once they had finished most of the food, the conversation started once more. "What's the best thing you've ever done?" Harry asked.

Lucius took another bite while he considered. "The best thing I've ever *done*, I don't know. The best thing I've ever *created*... Draco."

Harry had a slight, happy smile on his face. "I think raising him was probably the best thing you've ever done, because you did a really great job. Even if I did think he was a spoiled obnoxious brat for the first couple of years."

Lucius laughed. "He did go through that stage. I blame Narcissa."

Harry raised an eyebrow, though it didn't work as well for him as it did for the two older men. "Then why was he always 'I'll tell my father' 'My father will hear of this'?"

"Because he didn't want to be seen as a Momma's boy, of course," Lucius answered serenely. "Same question."

Harry figured he just didn't want to talk anymore about Draco or he'd have to admit that the boy was more of a 'Daddy's boy' then a 'Momma's boy', but he accepted the redirection. "The best thing I've ever done..."

"Defeating Voldemort?" Lucius suggested.

"No," Harry shook his head. "That was a group thing, and I only did it because it was expected of me."

"I disagree. It might have been expected of you, but just because something is expected, does not mean that you can or will do it. Yes, it was a group thing, but the fact remains it would never have been done without you," Lucius' voice was intent. "*You* defeated Voldemort. You had help, I'm not gainsaying that, or downplaying what we did, but the fact remains, *you* are the reason it happened at all. The world had no right to *expect* anything from you, you were just a child. Still, you went beyond their expectations. All of our expectations. Defeating Voldemort was a good thing, a *great* thing, if you deny that, you deny all that happened, the good and the bad."

Harry listened intently. He could tell Lucius meant every word and he took them in and savored them. They meant a lot more than he could ever express. "Perhaps you're right. Still, I think the best thing I ever did was see past the first impressions all three of you gave me. Nothing would have changed without that, and I would not be nearly as lucky as I am now."

Lucius nodded his understanding. Seeing past first impressions or preconceptions was one of the hardest things to do. Most people didn't even try.

Harry decided to lighten the mood a little. "What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?"

Lucius glared mildly, but decided to answer. "During Fourth Year, the Marauders disliked me almost as much as they did Severus. One day, I was the last person to leave the Quidditch pitch and go to take my shower. Somehow they had managed to put a special dye in the shower head." Harry was already chuckling, glad that the story was not only about Lucius, but his father and his friends. "If it had been a regular dye, that would have been bad enough, but oh no, not your father and godfather. It had to be a *special* dye. Overall, I was mostly red, but there were streaks of purple and yellow, as well as spots of orange, blue and pink." Harry was laughing outright by now. "You don't think that's all, do you? No, that would be too simple. You see, as I was still standing there, trying to figure out what had happened, they started taking pictures. I was finding pictures of me, nude and colorful, all over the school for the next three months. And to add a final insult?"

He had to wait, because Harry was laughing too hard for the final part to be heard over the noise he was making. He was also grinning slightly. It might have been embarrassing, but he didn't think he'd ever heard Harry laugh like that, and it was worth it. Finally Harry calmed. "Can I finish?" Harry nodded, hiccuping slightly and taking a drink of water to try and finish calming. "The last problem, was that the dye easily washed off skin, it wouldn't come out of my hair. Magic, the strongest shampoo and cleaning potions, nothing worked. I had multicolored hair until it finally wore off, almost a month later."

Harry managed to choke out, "Do you have pictures?"

"None that you will ever see," Lucius said solemnly. That set Harry off again and Lucius was glad he'd set up a kind of white noise barrier around the table so that the other patrons couldn't tell his date was here in hysterics. He smiled indulgently. So what if Harry was laughing at him, he was happy and that was what was important. Besides, it was his turn next.

Finally, after a refill of their drinks, Harry had restored himself to calmness and was feeling slightly shameful. It really hadn't been that funny after all. Oh, who was he kidding, it had been hysterical. He'd have to ask Sirius or Remus if they still had any of the pictures.

"Well?" Lucius asked.

"Well what?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"You don't actually think you're going to get away without telling me yours, did you?"

That took care of any remaining hilarity. "I don't think I could top that." Harry tried.

"That's okay, I'm sure I'll find whatever it is as funny as you found mine," Lucius offered.

"I'm sure," Harry muttered, but he was smiling. It was only fair after all.

"It's funny that your most embarrassing moment has to do with my father, while mine is most definitely because of your son. To add to that, it was while I was showering after Quidditch practice. There was just no dye involved in mine. Instead, he managed to get into our locker room while I was showering and steal all of my clothes, the robes, the towels and anything else cloth-like in the entire place. Then he warded all the lockers so I couldn't borrow someone else's clothes, and warded the doors to the other teams locker rooms. I hung around as long as I could, hoping someone would come by, but no one did. Our practices were early morning ones and that day was Double Potions first thing. I had been late a couple of times within the last month and Severus had said that if I was late again he was going to drag me into the classroom no matter what I was doing or what I was wearing. I didn't think he was serious!"

Lucius was chuckling now, because he knew that Sev would have been completely serious when making a threat like that.

"I was pacing in the shower room, trying to decide what to do. I had finally decided to wait until classes started, then make a run for the dorms. Suddenly I felt like I was grabbed and something started pulling me. It wasn't going so fast that I was actually dragged along the ground, but I did have to run and it was obviously not going to be stopped. I tried to keep from opening the door from the locker room, but I finally realized it would pull me through it if I didn't. That spell of Severus' dragged me all the way from the locker rooms through the Great Hall, down to the dungeons and into the classroom! And the whole time I was stark naked! I don't know how many people saw me like that. Finally I was standing there, in the middle of the classroom, trying to keep at least part of me covered by my hands. I was absolutely mortified!"

Harry was blushing and smiling at the same time. He'd never seen Lucius laugh so freely either.

"Draco does seem to like embarrassing you," Lucius said when he was finally down to chuckles once more.

"Tell me about it," Harry groaned. "I think it' his favorite form of entertainment."

"So did you get revenge?" Lucius asked.

"Of course, didn't you?" Harry smirked.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Lucius said snarkily.

Once they finished laughing, Harry asked another question, deciding to go for serious again. "What dream have you ever had that hurt the most to give up on?"

Lucius thought that over carefully. He had expected questions about the Death Eaters, his childhood or Narcissa, but Harry was obviously going for deeper than that, and he would do his best to answer as truthfully and as fully as he could. "I would have to say, Voldemort's dream."

"What?" Harry asked, shocked. The conversation came to a short stop as their food came and the waiter left.

Part 20/?

"What do you mean, Voldemort's dream? If you supported him, why did you help me destroy him?" Harry asked as soon as it was safe, ignoring the food before him.

"One thing Voldemort was very good at was getting people to join him. He did that by personalizing his recruitment spiel to the person he was trying to get join him. To some, like MacNair, the killing of Muggles was the selling point, but to others, like myself, Severus, even Pettigrew, there were other inducements. For myself, it was not only the forbidden knowledge and I do agree with you about Dark Magic, but also the chance to stop being worried about Muggles. I do not think we should kill them all, honestly I don't think we could. I don't want a war between Muggles and wizards. I'm not entirely sure we would win. I also know, now, that we couldn't survive without them, the only other place to get new blood would be non-human sentients and if we do that to often, we wouldn't be human ourselves. However, I also don't think we should be afraid of them. We do too much to try to placate them and pretend we don't exist. It's not the time of the Inquisition or the Salem Witch trials anymore. Why are we still hiding? Voldemort promised that we would stop hiding. That the Muggles would know of us and accept us. Yes, they would know us as lords, but is that really such a bad thing? For a people who can travel anywhere, the places we can go and be ourselves are few and far between. Why do we allow people with none of the power we ourselves have to dictate limits upon our way of life?"

Harry's eyes hadn't left his through the whole lecture. The confusion had converted into understanding and Lucius breathed a silent sigh of relief. Harry nodded. "I think I understand. I don't completely *agree* but I do understand."

"You also need to remember that I was only your age at the time, and not nearly as mature as you." Lucius reminded him. "It's the dream that hurt the most to lose, because of what it turned into. I was not expecting to become a murderer. Use Imperius, fine, I didn't have a problem with that; but I did not join Voldemort to kill and torture."

Harry reached out a hand and laid it over Lucius' in silent affinity. With one accord they turned to finish eating but the silence between them wasn't strained at all. When they finished, and had laid aside their silverware, Lucius spoke again. "What's yours?"

Harry was silent for a moment more before sighing softly. "A family. It was the hardest thing about realizing I was gay. Not, that I would have given you up for anything," he hastened to reassure the older man. "I just... wish I could have had children." He noticed that Lucius was looking at him almost uncomprehendingly and tried to figure out what he had said. "Draco wasn't quite what I had in mind," he finished softly.

"Harry," Lucius said slowly. "You do know there are ways for wizards to get pregnant don't you?"

Harry stared at him. "But... I'm... we're... male."

"We're also wizards," Lucius reminded him. "There are spells and procedures for just this case. All that would be needed would be to decide who was going to carry and then see a mediwitch that specializes in male pregnancy. It requires extra magical support for the mother, certain potions and spells at certain times, but it's more than possible."

"Would you..." Harry trailed off, but hope was in his eyes.

"Would I what? Want another child? Since my first one worked out so well, I don't see why not. Carry it? That, I might have a problem with."

"No, that's alright," Harry's eyes were wide, and his hand was on his stomach as if he could already feel the life he was suddenly determined would be there one day. "I'll carry it."

"We'll see," Lucius said, wondering if he should have said anything. To put that look of happiness in Harry's eyes was wonderful, but what if the boy's early malnutrition meant he was too small? Or there was some other reason he wouldn't be able to carry a child? "It's not something we're going to even think about until you're out of school." At least it would be put off, and maybe Harry would grow during the next two or three years.

Lucius suddenly stopped and considered everything he had just been thinking about. Two or three years? A child? When did he start thinking that Harry and he would be together for that long? Certainly, he'd never considered Harry to be a fling, but he was still a boy. Who was to say that he wouldn't suddenly decide that he, Lucius, was too old or that he wanted someone younger? True, he didn't have to worry about someone beating him in the looks department, but Harry was just a teenager, and teenagers were notoriously fickle. Not that Harry was normal, but he wanted to be. What if he decided he wanted more experience than just one old-enough-to-be-his- father ex-Death Eater? Or if he wanted to experiment?

Harry's thoughts were going in the same direction. This was their *first* *date*. Why were they already talking about kids? What if they weren't compatible? What if Lucius wanted someone with more experience, someone who knew what they were doing, and whom he wouldn't have to teach everything? Not to mention, someone who didn't have to go to school for ten months out of the year. What was he going to do when he wouldn't be able to see Lucius for months?

Deliberately, they turned their thoughts away from the future, glad when the waiter came by with their deserts. Instead of speaking more, they just watched each other contemplatively over their dishes and glassware. Finally, Lucius tilted his head and seemed to be listening to the music coming from the small ensemble by the small dance floor off to their right.

"Would you care to dance?" he asked, standing and gallantly offering his hand.

Completely willing to forgo the thoughts chasing through his mind and wanting to feel the older man's body against his own on the dance floor, Harry took his hand and easily stood. "You still haven't taught me," he reminded the blonde.

"Then this will be our first lesson," Lucius said suavely and led him out on to the floor.

Two hours later, they finally left the restaurant. Harry was still dancing on air, high on the feeling of the hours spent in Lucius' arms being swept away with the music. He twirled around on the sidewalk, still moving with the music in his head. "I loved that Lucius, I absolutely loved it."

Lucius smiled indulgently, but he was happy too. Harry's inherent grace, which, he was sure, was one of the reasons the boy's animagus form was part cat, had stood him in good stead and it had taken only minutes for the boy to be moving in his arms as if he'd done it a thousand times before. He'd thought that the feel of breasts against him as they danced would feel strange, before he'd realized that he'd never danced with any of his male lovers, but only with his wife or cover dates, so a flat chest would have felt stranger. Besides, if he'd been there with Harry as Harry, he would never have been able to get up on that dance floor with him.

They were walking back to the alley they had appeared in so they could portkey home in peace. Harry was still twirling, feeling almost as if he had his wings.

A hand reached out of an alcove grabbing the boy and pulling him towards the darkness. "Give me all your money, or the little girl gets it," a voice growled as Harry ended up with an arm wrapped around his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the knife the mugger was wielding, heading towards his throat. Looking up, he saw the rage and worry in his boyfriend's eyes, but showed only determination in his. This guy was nothing compared to Death Eaters he had faced, and would be treated like it.

"Let Jade go," Lucius growled, his voice deadly.

Harry shivered. He didn't know why Lucius being dangerous always got to him, but it happened every time.

"Jade, huh? And does little Jade here, like older guys? Maybe I should show her what a real man can do. What do you think of that, little girl?" he moved his head next to hers and licked a broad stripe up the side of her cheek.

Lucius' eyes started to burn.

Harry didn't react. Instead he waited while the man pulled back to laugh, then he moved. One sharp heeled shoe went up and came down, scraping as hard as it could against his shin bone.

The man howled and Harry twisted away, feeling his dress rip, but not really caring at that point. All that mattered was getting away so that Lucius had a straight shot at him. Harry dropped

to the ground as soon as he was free, rolling away from the scene of expected mayhem.

Lucius knew from the look in Harry's eyes that something was planned. He was just a little surprised at what that something was. He knew that Harry was fully capable of wandless magic, so the use of physical force was a surprise, one that kept him from acting for an entire half of a second. Then his wand was in his hand. He ached to use Cruciatus, but knew the Ministry would not overlook it and getting sent to Azkaban at this point would ruin all of their plans. Not to mention separate him from Harry. Instead he used another nasty little curse he knew. "Mordero Ignis!"

The would-be mugger started to scream as what felt like thousands of fire ant bites covered his body.

Harry winced at the sound of the screams and Lucius was about to cancel the spell, not wanting to scare Harry, but Harry pulled his wand. Lucius was waiting for the "Finite Incantum!" but it didn't happen. Instead, Harry seemed to realize he wasn't allowed to use his wand and put it away. Wandless magic would do as well. Lucius watched in surprise and slight shock as Harry cast a simple silence spell on the mugger.

"He can suffer for a minute or two more," Harry told him baldly.

"Actually, the spell has worn off," Lucius told him. "The good thing about it is that he will continue to feel the bites until they go away by themselves, and they will act exactly like fire ant bites, and take as long to go away."

Harry nodded. "Fair enough." He looked mournfully over his dress. "I just bought this today."

"I will buy you another," Lucius offered.

Harry smiled. "That's okay. At least it was a memorable night."

"I thought it was even before this unpleasantness," Lucius replied.

"It was, Lucius, it was."

They obliviated the idiot who'd dared to accost them and headed home. Severus and Draco were waiting in the study.

"Took you long enough," Draco drawled when he heard them come in.

Severus, however, rose to his feet. "What did you do to him, Lucius?"

Draco looked up to see Harry, his dress torn and hair down, scratches on his arm, looking for all the world as if he'd been attacked and rose to his feet as well. Severus was heading towards his father with intent to do harm and Draco didn't know if he should stop him or join him.

Part 21/?

"Sev!" Harry squealed. He ran forward and jumped into the man's arms before he could move farther. Severus was surprised to see the boy was grinning wildly as he babbled. "You should have seen it! It was textbook! It worked just like we practiced! You never told us to watch out for rough spots on the ground though."

"Harry!" Draco shouted. "Calm down and tell us what happened."

"I told you Draco! It was classic! The guy grabbed me as I was walking down the street. He pulled my back to his front, his arm around my throat and a knife in the other. One assailant and my partner was unencumbered. What do you think happened?"

Draco grinned back and Severus relaxed.

Lucius however, did not. "Are you saying everything you did was planned?"

"Of course," Harry stared at him, surprised. "Didn't you know that? You did your part perfectly after all."

"My part?" Lucius bit out.

"Dad, calm down. It's something we learned with Severus, how to get away from someone holding you and getting to a place where you can fight. If it was as Harry described, he should have waited for you to distract the attacker, then dragged his heel along the guy's shin or stomped on his toes. Then he would have twisted away, dropped and rolled so you could take care of the guy. You *did* take care of the guy, didn't you?"

"Of course he did," Harry replied as if there had never been any doubt in the world. "He used a spell I've never heard of called 'fire bites'."

The other two shuddered. "That's nasty," Draco cried. "I like it. Well done, Dad."

Severus looked down at the boy in his arms. "Imagine having hundreds of fire ants crawling all over you, biting at will, and even once the ants leave the bites are still there." Harry shuddered at the thought but didn't react otherwise. "Come on, I'll take care of those scrapes for you."

Harry dug in his heels and turned to Lucius. "Our date's not over is it? I wanted to talk some more."

Lucius smiled, glad that the unpleasantness hadn't ruined Harry's night. "Go get healed up and changed, I'll be waiting down here."

Harry smiled his thanks and willingly went with Severus. Draco followed.

Harry stopped at the doorway and looked back a little with a little trepidation. "Boy or girl?"

Lucius blinked as he worked out what Harry was asking. "Whichever you prefer," Lucius answered easily.

Harry's expression just screamed 'you're no help'.

"Come on, you can tell me all about your date while Sev patches you up," Draco suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was standing in front of his closet trying to decide what to wear. He hadn't gotten any farther than taking off his jewelry and putting it up. Boy or girl? Harry or Jade? Which should he go downstairs as?

Draco knocked once before strolling in. "Is there a problem?" he asked as he saw Harry standing there looking conflicted.

"I don't know what to wear," Harry whined.

"It's not that big a deal, you know. He'll like you in anything you wear. You could always wear my present, I know Father would like that."

Harry glared. "I... don't... think... so..." he bit out.

"Why are you stressing about this?" Draco asked more seriously.

"Boy or girl? Jade or Harry?" Harry's voice was getting strident.

"First calm down," Draco suggested. He waited until Harry took several deep breaths and lost the almost hysterical edge he had been gaining. "Now, don't think about what Father would like. Which would *you* be most comfortable in?"

"Girl," Harry said slowly after several moments.

"Okay, now what are you hoping for downstairs?" Draco asked next. Harry looked at him in confusion. "Are you hoping to get lucky? Do you want to make out some but not go all the way? Or do you just want to kiss him?"

Harry blushed. "The second," he whispered.

"Hmm..." Draco thought for a moment. "Do you have something you can wear without the breasts? But would still look good?" Harry thought for a moment and then nodded. He walked over to the closet and didn't hesitate to take off the ruined dress, his bra and the prosthetics. Standing in just his underwear, he pulled on a dark green peasant blouse and a pleated black skirt. Draco nodded. "Very nice, you can't really see much of a difference. You might want to change your underwear though, if things go as you want, those could get very uncomfortable."

Harry shook his head at him. "There are times I really wonder why I tend to tell you almost everything." This time he moved into the bathroom to change.

"One more thing," Draco said in such a serious tone Harry couldn't help but stare at him. "Take off the make-up. Go downstairs as Harry Potter."

"In a dress?" Harry asked half humorously.

"Exactly, Harry Potter in a dress."

Harry just looked at him for a long stretched moment before nodding once and heading to the vanity table. He found he understood what Draco meant. It truly didn't matter if he dressed as a boy or a girl, he was still Harry Potter, and he needed to start dealing with that. There was no Jade, no second personality to deal with life, there was only Harry Potter in a dress. As he took off the make-up and stared at himself in the mirror, he smiled. Because Harry Potter in a dress, didn't look too damn bad.

"Thanks," he murmured to Draco as he walked past.

"Any time," Draco said softly back. "Oh, and Harry?"

Harry turned back around.

"This time, remember to lock the door."

Harry chuckled and walked out.

Lucius looked up as he heard the door open. He was starting to wonder if Harry had changed his mind about coming. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the way the boy was dressed and the absence of make-up. Like this, Harry looked slightly androgynous but still very good.

"Hello, Harry, you look very nice," he murmured.

Harry smiled and mumbled a thank you as he looked at the older man.

Harry looked between Lucius sitting in his favorite chair, wearing silk slacks and a black silk shirt that molded over his muscles and contrasted his moonlit hair and the cold couch nearby. His mouth firmed and he walked to Lucius, hesitating once he was close enough to touch.

Lucius didn't. He reached one long arm out and pulled the not at all reluctant boy down onto his lap, moving him until they were both comfortable.

Harry relaxed into the feel of the body below him and just drifted gently in his own thoughts for a while. "Lucius?" he finally said.

"Yes?" Lucius answered, pulled out of his own thoughts and the feeling of the body on top of his.

"There's something I don't understand. You said that wizards could have children, right?"

"That's right," Lucius agreed.

Well, it's just... I get the feeling that it would be a very bad thing if it got out either of us was gay, but if wizards can have children, and there's not the Muggle problem with religion, than why is there a problem with us being gay? Bill Weasley is gay and nobody seems to have a problem with that."

Lucius sighed. Somehow this wasn't the conversation he was expecting to have while Harry was sitting on his lap. Then again, Harry had been surprising him all night. But since Harry had asked, he would answer. "People are stupid."

"That's not an answer, besides, I already knew that," was Harry's impatient response.

"You know that sex is power, correct?" Lucius asked.

"Well, I know about sex magic."

"That's not quite what I meant. Sex can be used as a reward or a punishment. It can be used to bind people together. Dark Lords have always used sex to bind their followers. During the last Calm, or a time without a Dark Lord, one reporter started researching a Dark Lord named Ordrue. He seems to have become a Dark Lord just for the sex. He made *everything* have to do with sex and came up with some very bizarre rituals. And since all of his followers were male, she decided they were all gay or, for those married with kids, under a spell. Looking at other Dark Lords relations to *their* minions showed some of the same things. The conclusions she drew said that there was nothing wrong with a wizard liking other wizards *if* they were on the side of the Light. However, if the gay wizard preferred Dark magic, then they were obviously possible Dark Lords."

"So," Harry drawled out. "If you show up with a male lover, people will automatically assume you're trying to take Voldemort's place. But what about me? I'm supposed to be on the side of the Light."

"Ah, but you're powerful, so you could also be a potential Dark Lord."

Harry blew out a breath. "You're right, people are stupid. By the way, that reporter wouldn't happen to be related to Rita Skeeter, would she?"

"Her grandmother as a matter of fact," Lucius pointed out dryly.

"I should have known," Harry groaned.

They were quiet again for a while, then Harry started squirming. "So..." he said hesitantly, and obviously trying to control his blush. "What kind of rituals were they?"

Lucius chuckled. "Ask me again when you can do it without blushing."

"The way I've been doing it lately, that'll never happen," Harry pouted.

Lucius couldn't resist. He suddenly dived forward and with his teeth gently tugged at the out-thrust lower lip. Harry moaned as it was pulled into the older man's mouth and laved with his tongue. He quite agreed, there had been too much talking. When Lucius' tongue moved up to his mouth, his own met it eagerly. Harry twisted around so he was straddling Lucius' legs, happy both with the choice of skirt, which allowed him to move without much hindrance and the boxers which were far more comfortable at this moment than his special underwear would have been.

Finally, Lucius pulled back. "I can show you other things though," he whispered huskily.

"Please," Harry whimpered, leaning forward to grab another kiss. Lucius' arms wrapped around his back, then drifted down and back up. Both men groaned as Lucius' hands touched skin. His hands mapped the skin of Harry's back as his mouth did Harry's mouth.

Slowly, giving him plenty of time to refuse, those hands moved around to Harry's front. Harry wasn't complaining. If his mouth had been free and his brain on line he would have been encouraging it with all his might. Since neither of those were possible, he had to make do with whimpering and using his own hands to touch whatever they could reach. Lucius, however, hadn't been as forethinking as him. Instead of wearing a nice loose shirt that he could run his hands under, he had a tight button up shirt and Harry's mind wasn't really working well enough to help with buttons.

As Lucius' fingers reached Harry's nipples, he had to pull away from the mouth devouring his. He gasped for air as Lucius pinched and rolled his nipples. Each touch sent lightning bolts down to his groin and he groaned, his hands tangled in the silk shirt covering Lucius' chest.

"Can I take your shirt off?" Lucius asked roughly.

As that thought percolated to Harry's brain, he nodded furiously. "Yours too," he cried, hands scrabbling at the buttons.

Lucius took hold of Harry's hands and tried to calm him down, himself as well. Harry was sitting *just* far enough back that they weren't quite touching and he honestly didn't know whether it would be better to pull him forward or not. Better for him, certainly. He desperately wanted to feel Harry pressed tight against himself, to grind up into his hot body and feel him pressing rhythmically against him in return. But how far was too much? What was Harry ready for? Obviously, by his hands, he was at least ready to get their shirts off, and that Lucius could do.

He took hold of the bottom of Harry's blouse and pulled it up and over his head and just looked his fill. He was glad Harry had left the breasts off, so all there was was smooth soft skin over hard muscles that rippled when he twisted, trying to get the older man's hands where he wanted them. He wasn't overly muscular, but lithe and toned, his skin dusted with a light tan and flushed with blood. His nipples were puckered and hard, a dusky rose and he was completely hairless as far as Lucius could see.

"You're beautiful," he whispered, and smiled sadly at the bemused look on Harry's face. He obviously still had trouble with compliments. From his arousal, his eyes weren't so much pure jade anymore, but onyx, pure black with only a small ring of green.

Lucius thought about moving them to the couch, but knew if he laid the boy down there, they might not get back up before morning, so instead he let his hands and mouth move over the beautiful body sitting on top of him.

He stopped suddenly as his hands reached a puckered part of Harry's body. It was not however, his nipple. He moved on quickly though. As much as he might want to know about the scars, he was not going to ruin this night for them. No one ever said Malfoys were stupid.

His mouth nibbled down his throat and sucked on the juncture of Harry's neck and shoulder. Gently, then harder as Harry pressed up against his mouth and teeth, he sucked until he was sure he'd left a mark.. Harry made a disappointed whimper as Lucius' mouth moved away from his neck. He started to squirm as Lucius' lips and tongue reached his first nipple. Both of them let out a gasp as Harry's movement made their erections grind together for the first time. Harry froze for a moment as he felt it and Lucius waited impatiently to see what he would do. With a little cry, Harry moved again, rolling his hips. His hands left the shirt he still hadn't gotten off and moved up to tangle themselves in the pale blond hair in front of him as he pulled his head up and attacked his mouth. One of Lucius' hands moved down to press against Harry's ass, encouraging the movement.

"Harry! Time for bed! You have lessons tomorrow." Came through the doorway along with a heavy knock.

Harry drew away immediately, groaned and blushed. Lucius groaned as well and dropped his head on Harry's shoulder. "How long did Severus say he was going to stay here?" he asked roughly.

"A week," Harry whined. "Is he going to do this *every* time?"

"More than likely," Lucius murmured, trying to quiet his rebellious body.

"What is up with him?" Harry asked perplexed. "I thought he was fine with us? Did... did he ... *lie* to me?"

Lucius opened his mouth to answer when the doorknob started to turn. "Did you lock the door?" he asked, even as he used his magic to grab Harry's shirt and put it in his hands.

"I don't think so," Harry muttered as he pulled the shirt on. "And Draco reminded me, too."

Severus came in and didn't *quite* glare at seeing them sitting together in a chair. However, his determination not to glare did not live up to seeing the love bite that showed above the neckline of Harry's blouse.

Lucius' sharp eyed glare brought him up short and he stayed quiet as Lucius kissed Harry once more and whispered 'good night'. Harry left, not walking exactly comfortably and ignoring Severus as he walked out.

"Sit down, Severus, we need to talk," Lucius said seriously.

Part 22/?

Lucius wanted to get up and pace, but he wasn't quite in a condition to do that at the moment.

"What's the matter?" Severus asked. Why was Lucius annoyed? Severus was the one that should be annoyed.

"What's the matter?" Lucius asked blankly. "You can really ask me that? I understand that you're not happy with Harry and myself and after this afternoon, I understand why. But you should *not* be taking it out on Harry."

"I'm not!" Severus said, shocked.

"Aren't you? Who do you think you really embarrassed by that little scene? Harry might need a father, but he is not five years old. By walking in on us like that, by interrupting us like that... I know what you were trying to do, but I also know what you did was humiliate Harry. Do you want to make him ashamed of his own wants and needs?"

Severus settled down on the nearby couch. "Of course not," he said almost silently.

"Then what do you want?"

Severus was silent, thinking.

"Did you lie to him?" Severus' head jerked up and he stared at the blonde. "That's what he asked me. It seemed to be important to him."

"He thinks I lied..." Severus' voice trailed off and his face was creased with worry.

"Is it important?" Lucius asked, always interested in what he should be careful of when it came to Harry.

Severus nodded. "He hates being lied to, makes him feel like he's being manipulated. I think it has something to do with the gryphon as well."

Lucius rose to his feet. "Ask yourself this. Which is more important... what you want... or what Harry wants? Figure it out, and go talk to him, because while I might understand... he doesn't."

Lucius walked out, leaving Severus staring at a dying fire.

Thirty minutes later, Severus was outside Harry's bedroom, knocking. "Harry?"

"What Severus?" Harry's voice sounded tired.

"May I come in?"

"You mean you're actually waiting for permission this time?"

Severus winced. Oh yes, this was not good.

"Please, Harry?"

There was a moment of silence, then "It's unlocked."

Severus carefully opened the door and walked in. He saw Harry sitting curled up, his arms around his knees and his face down. He sighed silently. He had to fix this, and fix it now.

"I'm sorry."

That caused a reaction. Harry's head flew up and he stared in utter disbelief. It wasn't that he hadn't ever heard those words from the professor before, he had... once, maybe twice. It was the tone they were spoken in that surprised him so much.

"I just don't understand, Severus. I mean, the first time was an accident, but this one certainly wasn't, and I've noticed those little comments you've been making. This was an important day for me, why...?" he trailed off.

Severus took a deep breath. "You are the closest thing I will ever have to a son," he started. He was glad to see Harry had uncurled and was listening intently. "I know we've talked about how you're old enough, mature enough and responsible enough to make your own decisions. And I believe that, I really do. But you're my child, and I can't help trying to take care of you. And if that means making sure you're not going too far, too fast, then that's what I'm going to do. I am sorry for just walking in on you tonight. That was extremely discourteous to you both and it will not happen again."

"I'm glad," Harry remarked. "Even after everything you've done to me, including that incident when you dragged me into the classroom stark naked, I don't think I've ever been *that* embarrassed before."

"That was never my intention." Severus assured him. "My problem with the two of you has always been him."

"I thought you were fine with us. You said you were. Did you lie to me?"

Severus quickly shook his head. "To myself, maybe. I honestly thought I was fine with it when I said it. And in my head, I do understand it all. But my heart..."

"Which part is the problem? His age, his background, what?" Harry was serious, he needed to know.

"Well, I only became a father about nine months ago, therefore, you, my son, can only be about nine months old. He's obviously too old for you."

Harry laughed, grabbed the pillow behind his back and hit the older man with it gently. "Figure each month was about two years, they probably felt like it at the time."

Severus chuckled lightly in agreement. "I think you're right. Actually, I think the biggest problem I have with Lucius is that he reminds me of me. And I know I'm not good enough even to be your father, so how could I think he's good enough to be your lover? I also know you. This is not a fling. It's not a summer affair. If it was with someone your own age, I could maybe believe that, but I don't think so. You're hoping that he will be the one for the rest of your life. And he'll be your family."

Harry got up immediately and moved to him, pulling him into a hug. "You'll always be my family. He's not trying to take me away from you. He's your best friend, and don't even try to tell me that he doesn't consider you part of his family, the same as I and Draco both do. And I don't ever want to hear you say that you're not good enough to be my father, because that's a load of bull. No one could be a better one. Truth is, and I'll deny it if you ever say anything to him, you're a better father than even Sirius could be. He's ... it's like those twelve years in Azkaban stunted his mental growth, you know? He's a great godfather, absolutely wonderful, but I don't think he'd be a good father. It's his job to spoil me, and he's really good at that, but I don't think he could truly handle the rest of it; the being there for me, even the discipline, that's your job for as long as you want it."

Severus held Harry tight, burying his face in Harry's hair and just breathing in the words Harry had said. They healed a wound on his heart that he hadn't even been aware was there.

"I'll try not to be so judgmental, all right? That's about all I can promise you at the moment."

"Oh, you can promise me one more thing," Harry said in a hard voice that didn't match his eyes. "You can promise never to walk in on us again, and never to *knowingly* knock at an inopportune time. Agreed?"

"I think I can agree to that," Severus smiled slightly.

Harry suddenly yawned and Severus chuckled. "I told you it was past your bedtime," he said snottily.

"Yeah, yeah. Gonna tuck me in?" Harry said challengingly.

"Certainly," Severus smirked back. "Do you want a story as well?"

"Nope, I want you to sing me a lullaby." Harry burst out laughing at the look on Severus' face and continued until his sides hurt. It hadn't really been that funny, but there was a lot of tension that was released by that burst of hilarity. However, the ending of it took the last of his energy and it was all the boy could do to climb under the covers. Severus was the one to pull the covers up around him and brushed a kiss across his forehead.

"Goodnight my little gryphon." he murmured.

"Goodnight, dad," Harry whispered back as he fell to sleep.


	9. Chapter 23 and 24

Hey all! Love the response I've gotten so far! Thanks so much!

Part 23/?

The next morning Harry was woken by a form jumping up and down on his bed. "Yes, Draco?" he said before even opening his eyes.

"Well, how did it go?" Draco asked, still bouncing.

Harry struggled into a sitting position and put on his glasses. "It *was* going wonderfully until Severus came knocking on the door."

"I told you to lock it didn't I?" Draco shook his finger in front of Harry's face until the raven-haired boy tried to bite it.

"Yes, you did, but I didn't *really* expect him to come barging in!" Harry said testily.

"Oh, no one told you what happened yesterday when we were shopping," Draco then proceeded to tell him of the scene he and Severus had acted out the day before and Lucius' reaction to it.

Harry nodded earnestly. "That wasn't all of it though. He came in last night and explained why he was reacting the way he was. He was also afraid that now that I've got another older man in my life I wouldn't need him anymore. Silly man was worried about losing his family. As if."

Draco shook his head in disbelief. "So he'll be okay with you two from now on?"

"He said he would try. He has promised not to purposefully interrupt us anymore." Harry said. "I figured it was the best we could do at the time. Now get out of here so I can get dressed."

Draco laughed and left.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was heading downstairs.

"So Professor Snape, what are we doing today?" he asked as he headed into the breakfast room. He stopped when he saw the look on all three faces. "What's the matter?"

Lucius silently handed him the Daily Prophet as he reached the table. The anger on his face matched the rest of the family's as he read the headline.

'_**HARRY POTTER KIDNAPPED BY MALFOY!'**_

_**By Rita Skeeter**_

'_**It was told to the Daily Prophet today by the Minister of Magic himself, that Harry James Potter, the Boy-who-Lived and the Defeater-of-Voldemort has disappeared. The last time he was seen was his sixteenth birthday, a day which, according to Ministry sources, he spent at Malfoy Manor. Minister Fudge alleged that Harry Potter must have been coerced into going to the Manor where ex-Death Eaters Lucius and Draco Malfoy forced him to stay. Professor Severus Snape was also present on the premises. Minister Fudge and a number of Aurors went to Malfoy Manor the next day but could find no trace of the missing boy. Currently the members of the Ministry are working on an injunction allowing them to question both Malfoys under Veritaserum on the whereabouts and well-being of young Mr. Potter. We, at the Daily Prophet, certainly hope that Mr. Potter will be returned safe to the arms of his loving family.'**_

The rest of the article was a rehash of his life and the battle with Voldemort and the Malfoy's life was brought up as well. Not in a very complementary light either. There was no talk of them working together with him to defeat Voldemort. As he read and his mind started working with what he had read, he started to smile.

"You think this is funny?" Draco barked.

"We've got him," Harry grinned.

That alone was enough for the others to understand what he meant. It was sooner than they'd expected and would mean moving fast, but he was correct, Cornelius Fudge had just handed them the means to get him out of office, and he did it on a golden platter as well.

The first order of business was to make sure no one else got in the way. Owls were immediately sent out to the Weasley's, Hermione, Sirius and Remus asking them *not* to respond. More owls were sent out to arrange for a press conference in a conference room at Gringotts at four o'clock the next afternoon. Gringotts was chosen as a true neutral place. No one wanted a group of reporters on Malfoy grounds, nor did they trust the Ministry to such an extent they would choose to have it there. Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's auspices, was not to even be thought of. Gringotts however, with its reputation for neutrality as long as no one tried to steal from them, was the perfect compromise.

Everything was to be planned out. Clothes were perhaps the easiest. "Your school robes, of course," was Snape's suggestion. "They see you as a child, show yourself to be one."

"But I want them to respect me and what I have to say," Harry argued.

"I must agree with Severus," Lucius put in. "Although you've certainly shown you can make yourself up to be sophisticated and older than you are, that is not the image we want to show tomorrow. You want to show that you are just a child that is *appalled* that some of your friends have been put in this position just because they gave you a birthday party. You aren't there to elect a new Minister, but just to set the record straight. You're just a student who was having fun at his own birthday party and can't understand why this is a big deal to everyone."

Harry finally nodded. "All right, I understand what you mean. Besides, at least that way I don't have to go buy new dress robes."

"What? You don't want to go shopping?" Draco grinned.

Harry looked back. "I'd have to go as Harry." That explained everything and wiped the grin off of Draco's face. Harry turned to the others. "That's something else we're going to have to deal with. Somehow I doubt that the newspapers are going to keep quiet on the fact that I will be showing up there. How am I supposed to get there without getting mobbed?"

Lucius had the answer to that one. "Write Gringotts back, and tell them of the problems that would entail if you had to walk there. Surely they have a private room that they can send you a portkey to. As for getting out, as long as you have the emblem portkey I gave you, you'll be fine."

Harry nodded thoughtfully and went out to do that, coming back to find an argument raging on whether the other three should be at the press conference or not.

"We need to be there to support Harry," was Severus' main point.

"If we're there someone will be screaming collusion or coercion," was Lucius' main impediment with that plan.

Draco's head was just going back and forth like a spectator at a tennis match.

"I agree," Harry said after listening for a few moments.

"With who?" both older men said at the same time.

"Both of you," Harry admitted. "I do think there should be some support, however, if it's you, Lucius, it would probably hurt more than help. I don't, however, think they could much complain if Draco shows up, especially if we get some other students to show up as well and intersperse them. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Blaise, Thyme and Draco at least. Show that among my friends there isn't such a thing as House rivalry. Severus should be fine too, as he is a teacher at my school."

Lucius was not happy. He'd been pushing more towards being there in disguise, not everyone but him being able to go.

"Besides," Harry continued. "If I'm going to be nominating Lucius to take Fudge's place, it would look better to do it while he isn't there."

"You *are* going to go into politics when you graduate, aren't you?" Lucius asked.

"Me? Politics? No way, I hate that stuff," was Harry's airy answer, leaving the others looking after him in disbelief.

Part 24/?

"You know I think we're going about this wrong," Draco put

in.

"How so?" his father asked.

"You two, but especially you Father, need to be able to honestly say that you don't have anything to do with this. If anyone finds out that you helped write Harry's speech, then they can say you put words into his mouth, things he perhaps didn't want or mean to say."

The others thought about this and reluctantly nodded. They could all see the sense in what he had said.

"So, it should just be you and me?" Harry asked.

Draco shook his head slightly, an almost disgusted look on his face. "I think we need to get some more help. I don't suppose we could ask Granger, but not Weasley, could we?"

Harry shook his head. "If we're making this a student thing, no we can't. Politics is really strategy and that's one thing Ron is very good at, if you can get him thinking about it the right way. Besides, his father works for the Ministry and that could be a big help. However, I think we need another Slytherin to balance things out. Blaise, maybe?"

"He'd work. At least he can get along with Weasley. He's sneaky too. You know, if we do this, you're probably going to have to tell them about Jade," Draco warned him.

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Do you want to keep such a big secret from them?" Draco asked in return.

"Well... when you put it that way... yes," Harry smiled.

Draco raised both eyebrows in question.

"Ron will freak, you know he will," Harry told him.

"You're not worried about Granger or Blaise?"

Harry shook his head. "They're solid. 'Mione would have a ton of questions, Blaise... I don't think anything surprises him. Ron however..."

"Then don't invite the Weasel," Draco shrugged.

Harry surreptitiously accio'd a small pillow from a nearby room and suddenly swatted Draco with it. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't insult my friends!"

"You know Weasley and I are not going to get along! Granger's okay if she can keep from spouting off everything she knows, but Weasley is nothing but a pain in the butt!"

"I don't expect you to be bosom buddies!" Harry answered back, manfully ignoring Draco's quiet 'you're the one with the breasts'. "The day you two get along for more than five minutes at a stretch is the day I'll expect to hear that Severus and Sirius dated in school!"

"How did you know about that?" Snape unthinkingly asked.

Every sound in the room stopped as the two boys turned to stare at their Potions Professor in pure, unadulterated disbelief.

"You... what?" Harry whispered.

Draco was looking warily at the ceiling, almost seeming ready to dive under the table.

"What is the matter with you Draco?" his father asked curiously.

"I'm waiting for the sky to fall in, surely that must have been the end of the world." was Draco's response.

"I want to know when he was dating Siri! I thought you dated my mom in school!" Harry's voice rose.

"Dating Black turned me off of guys," Snape admitted with a shrug.

Draco laughed. "I could see that. It'd be like me dating Weasley."

"Why Draco, is there something you want to tell me?" Harry asked silkily. "And if you liked guys, why didn't you ever tell me?" he added huskily.

"He doesn't and he never will if he knows what's good for him," Lucius suddenly growled.

Harry laughed, walked over and plopped down on his lap since his chair had been pulled away from the table. "Don't worry Luc, I like older guys..." he peeked over at Severus. "Who aren't father figures."

"I'm glad to hear that," came from three different throats and he looked up with a smile.

Lucius couldn't resist and bent down to kiss the boy in his lap lightly. Harry sighed happily into the kiss, then looked back at Draco.

"You never did explain why you thought they would need to know," he hinted for clarification.

"There's a couple of reasons. They are your oldest friends, and I know you don't want to lose them, but if you think Ron will freak over it, how do you think he'll feel if he finds out later, *and* if he finds we knew, but he didn't." Harry had to concede that, he'd ended up keeping secret what he was doing with Draco and Severus during the first part of the school year, and there had been a giant row when they found out about it.

"Not to mention, if I remember correctly, you hadn't planned on telling Severus. How long did that last?" Draco smirked.

"I'd just not let them into my room, or make sure I put all of Jade's stuff up while I'm here." Harry asserted.

Draco just gave him a look telling him exactly how stupid he thought that idea was. "There's also the fact that it gives you an excuse for staying here. The Dursley's would never understand after all."

"Well, that's certainly true enough," Harry agreed.

"Look, just meet them as Jade, see how long it takes them to figure it out. It should be good for a laugh, if nothing else."

"Whatever you're going to do, you need to decide soon," Lucius put in. "The press conference is only a little over a day away, and if you don't wish for Severus or myself to get involved you need to get started. Besides, I have some things I need to do myself. Like deal with that reporter, and start proceedings to sue Fudge."

"Good! Let's get him out of office and make him a pauper," Harry grinned. "However I'm not telling my friends about you," he said to the man on who's lap he was sitting.

"Okay, that might be a good thing to keep from them," Draco agreed.

"And why is the fact that Harry here is with me worse than the fact that he is living as a girl?" Lucius asked.

"Are you kidding?" Harry asked. "If they found out about us, they'd be sending me to St. Mungo's faster than you could say Salazar Slytherin."

"Mr. Weasley does tend to take Gryffindor impulsiveness to a whole new level," Severus admitted.

Harry had to agree. He kissed Lucius one more time before he got up. "Portkeys, Luc. And don't forget the one for Blaise. He and Hermione can usually keep Ron in check. He's sneaky too. Of course, his specialty is being invisible, he's probably the one Slytherin that no one ever gets angry at, because most people don't even know he's there."

Draco laughed. "Half the things I get blamed for, he really did. That way, he gets to play all the pranks he wants without getting caught, and I get a reputation. It works well for both of us."

"Does Mr. Weasley know that?" Severus asked.

"Not likely. It's not something that would ever occur to him." Draco declared.

"Ron does tend to see things a little straightforward when it comes to people." Harry agreed. "Honestly he wouldn't be any good at politics the way he is now, but he *is* great with strategy. He just expects everyone to be like the pieces on a chessboard, only moving the way they're made to move. Some pieces are white, some are black and they can't change colors. Some move straight, some move crooked, but unless they're the queen they're limited to *only* what they've always done. He has a very hard time seeing Draco and Sev as more than the spoiled brat and greasy git they were when he first met them, he's going to have a very hard time seeing you as different than what was believed. That's the way it is with him and the way it will be until he grows up. Something we're all dearly hoping will happen soon. But I'm not going to give up on his friendship yet, and that means inviting him here. He *will* be a help and he'd be hurt if we excluded him.

"As the Muggles would say, it's a no brainer."

The others all nodded.

"Go change," Draco told him.

"Yeah, I guess I'd better meet them as Harry," he agreed.

"I disagree," Severus spoke up again. "It appears that those of you that met him first as a girl, before you realized who he was, had a much easier time accepting Jade than myself, who was only told about it first and saw it afterwards. It truly is not something you can understand without seeing it."

"True, but he still has to get changed," Draco smirked.

Harry looked down at his black sleeveless turtleneck and denim skirt. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Not a thing," Draco answered easily. "But if you're going to make a statement, make a big one. Don't you have something more girly?"

"More girly?" Harry drawled. "You want more girly? Be careful what you wish for, Draco, you just might get it."

Harry walked out of the room, positive of one thing. All eyes were on him, and there was trepidation in every set.

Ten minutes later, after the portkeys had been sent out set for an hour in the future, a voice was heard.

"Is this *girly* enough for you?"

All three men still left in the breakfast room looked up and gasped, wide-eyed.

There stood Jade, dressed like they'd never seen her before. A black leather miniskirt, barely covering everything that was supposed to be covered and belted low enough that his bellybutton was showing. A dark red, very short tube top that left his midriff entirely bare with a short black leather vest on top of it. The hickey Lucius had given him the night before stood out in proud relief on his shoulder. Knee high, shiny black boots that zipped up the side added at least two inches to his height. His makeup had been put on with a much heavier hand than usual, darkening and widening his eyes and making his lips look lush and moist. The crowning glory however, were the two leather bracers on his wrists that looked like cuffs and the leather collar that surrounded his neck.

Draco's mouth opened and shut, he looked like a gaping goldfish.

Lucius however, was showing something entirely different. He slowly rose to his feet, his eyes storm grey with lust and started heading straight towards the strumpet that was his boyfriend.

Severus' reaction was the most extreme though. He too, rose to his feet and headed towards the boy. "What the hell do you think you're wearing? No child of mine is going to wear such vulgar clothes! March right back up those stairs, young lady, and change into something decent!"

Harry just stared at the man, as all the others were doing, his face working. Finally, he couldn't hold it in any longer. What started out as giggles quickly grew into gales of laughter, joined by the two blondes in the room. Harry collapsed to the floor, holding his sides against the pain that laughing so hard was giving him while Severus thought over what he said, and slowly blushed.

TBC...

I had to end it here. I just love that scene so much! It makes me laugh every time I read it ^_^. Hope it made you laugh as well.


	10. Chapter 25, 26 and 27

The response from the last chapter has been *awesome!*! I'm glad you found it as funny as I do! I believe Ron's reaction will surprise quite a few of you. I'd hoped to get farther, but oh well I drew this part out a bit when I was writing it ^_^. For those of you that read JGE originally, there are a few changes to bring it more in line with MA. Nothing major though.

Part 25/?

Less than an hour later, all thoughts of laughter were completely gone from Harry Potter's mind. His friends were going to be here any moment, and he'd have to explain his choices yet *again*. He was just glad it was only his friends his own age and not his godfather or Remus. Of course, he wouldn't be able to get away without telling those two forever, but at least he didn't have to do it now. His hands were twisting nervously in his skirt as he waited. He was dressed much differently than he had been more than half an hour before. This time he was dressed in a matching skirt and shirt, pale green with an abstract design in a darker green. His hair was caught in a high ponytail and held there by a small silver snake.

He took a deep breath as he heard the distinct pop that could only be someone entering an area of space that had been empty before. Suddenly, where there had been nothing, there were three teenagers. Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Blaise Zabini stood looking at the two teens standing in front of them. Ron was the first to speak.

"Hey, Harry, you look good like that," he grinned wildly.

Everybody blinked and looked at the red haired boy in disbelief. "What did you say?" Harry asked blankly.

"Yes, Ron, what did you mean? Harry's not here," Hermione broke in.

Blaise was just watching quietly, going over to greet his fellow Slytherin.

"Come on, Hermione, this is obviously Harry. You didn't need to actually *dress* as a girl you know, it only lasts for forty-eight hours. Or couldn't the greasy git make you an antidote?" Ron continued, not easing anyone's confusion.

Hermione walked up to Harry and looked deep into his eyes. "It *is* you," she whispered, disbelievingly.

"Yeah, 'Mione, it is," he smiled slightly, somewhat concerned over her reaction. Mostly however, he wanted to know what Ron was talking about. He decided to ask.

"Ron, what are you talking about?"

"That new trick of the twins, you know, the one that turns you into a girl for two days. Let me tell you, Percy does *not* make a cute girl. Not like you. Actually, Bill's not a bad looking girl either," he grinned.

"And how did *you* look as a girl?" Draco drawled.

Ron shuddered. The others looked at him and thought about how he probably looked and shuddered as well. The picture was not a good one. "Don't ask," was all he said, surprising everyone who was expecting a much more vitriolic answer.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ron, but I haven't even gone through my birthday present from the twins. If they gave me something like that, I don't know about it. I'm just dressing like a girl, I'm not really one."

Ron had a look on his face that could only be described as gob smacked. Hermione looked interested. "How do you like it?" she asked curiously.

"Quite well actually, girls have nicer clothes than boys do and they tend to get treated better as well. At least if the boys are gentlemen."

"When have you ever met a gentleman?" Ron growled.

Somehow, that wasn't what Harry had been expecting the question to be about, but Ron had been surprising him from the moment he walked in. "Well, I had been dressing as a girl for three weeks before I saw Draco here in Diagon Alley. I had to have met at least a couple nice boys in that time frame."

"Hey!" Draco objected.

Ron grinned, if Harry was actually taking his side against Malfoy again, life was good.

"Diagon Alley?" Hermione shrieked. "You're kidding! After Hogsmeade how could you dare..." she trailed off.

"That's why," Blaise said quietly. "You're hiding from the wizarding world."

Harry nodded. "That's how it started anyway, though now I do it because I enjoy it as well."

Ron scrunched up his face. "Wait a minute... are you saying you're dressing like a girl? All the time? And you like it?" his voice was going up at every question.

"Of course that's what he's been saying, idiot. Don't you have ears?" Draco sneered.

That got a response, but not from the one he'd insulted. Before Ron could even open his mouth to respond, everyone else in the room already had. They'd all come prepared. Harry grabbed a nearby pillow, Hermione grabbed a Nerf ball from her 'bigger-inside-than-out' purse and Blaise pulled out a bludger bat that had been charmed not to actually hurt and all three things hit the blond head at the same time.

"Hey!" Draco complained.

Ron just laughed. "You're outnumbered now, ferret," he said condescendingly. He stopped laughing abruptly when the three items bounced off of *his* head. "I thought you were on my side!" he whined.

"We're on the side of peace," Hermione explained. "We're going to keep bopping you two until you stop insulting each other. However long that happens to take. I've got lots of Nerf balls after all, and I'm sure Harry can always find a pillow. And if these don't work, we'll just start using harder things. Personally, I think you two will probably learn before we have to start using bricks, but I wouldn't bet on it."

"'Mione!" Ron protested. "That's not fair!"

"I think it's completely fair, whichever one of you starts it is going to get swatted." Harry explained.

"You!" Ron turned to him, seeing a new person to be irritated with. "You still have some explaining to do!"

"What do you want to know?" Harry said, leading the way over to a conversation area and settling down, leading the others to do the same thing.

"Why are you dressing like a girl? Especially if you're not really a girl, although you sure look like one, and why do you look so good as one if you're not really one?"

Everyone tried to work that out, but Ron wasn't finished.

"And why are you here? And why did the papers say the Malfoys kidnapped you? Did they? I thought you said you were still living at home, but Dad said you haven't been back there for a week or so. Where have you been? Are you okay? What do you need us for? And why didn't you tell us earlier?" Finally it seemed as if Ron had come to an end of the questions and was waiting for an answer, or two or three.

"Any others while I'm answering those?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Ron had a good start," Hermione answered. "So get answering."

Harry decided to start with the beginning. Over the next forty-five minutes or so he explained everything that had happened to him that summer, from his first conversation with his uncle to Fudge's visit. The only things he left out were the ones that dealt with his relationship to Lucius.

"You're weird, man," was Ron's response at the end.

Harry's eyes dropped away. Great, another reason to be a freak.

Draco, it seemed, could read his mind. Without warning, he picked up Harry's pillow and hit him over the head with it. Hermione and Ron glared at him, but he took no notice. Instead he said in a quiet, intense voice, "You are not a freak, and I don't ever want to see that thought going through your head again. Got it?" He waited for Harry's nod and then turned to Ron. He still used the pillow, but he hit a whole lot harder. "And you! He's not weird, he's just different. Deal with it!"

"I didn't say it was a *bad* weird!" Ron seemed to be looking for help from the others, but he wasn't getting any. "I mean, practically everybody in my family is weird. It's just something you live with."

"I still want to know why you didn't tell us about any of this? Why did you make us think that you were still staying at your uncle's house?"

"It's not exactly a conversation I wanted to have by mail," Harry shrugged. "And my party wouldn't have been a good time either."

"What I still want to know is why you're here?" Ron broke in. "I mean, I know why you came, but why didn't you come to my house instead? We would have been happy to have you."

Harry shook his head. "Do you really think you could have kept it a secret there? Even as Jade? Everyone knows that you're Harry Potter's best friend. How often have reporters been by, just to see if I'm there? If I moved in, or even visited often, everyone in the wizarding world would know it. That's not a chance I'm willing to take. Especially not as Jade. If I showed up there as Jade, someone would start digging to try to figure out who I was, and then I'd lose the only defense I have left. Not to mention what people would say about it."

"If there's one thing I'm sure about here, it's that no one will find out I'm here or who I am. Even if they did find out I was here, the wards on the Manor are so strong that no reporters would be able to come in. I'm safe here."

"But it's Malfoy's!" Ron objected.

"So what?" Hermione interrupted. "He's one of the ones that helped defeat Voldemort, you know."

"Not Draco! Lucius!" Ron's voice was thick with hate.

"What do you have against my father?" Draco growled.

"How about Second Year! It's his fault the basilisk was let out and Hermione got petrified and what happened to Ginny! You haven't forgotten that, you couldn't have forgotten that!"

"Of course we haven't forgotten it," Hermione told him.

"Let's ask him." Harry suggested. Before anyone could say anything else, Harry had summoned a house elf. "Moppy, will you ask Lucius to come join us if possible?"

"Yes, Mistress Jade, Moppy will go ask Master Lucius to join Master Draco, Mistress Jade and guests."

"Mistress Jade?" Ron giggled.

"The house elves all call me that, so they don't accidentally mess up and call me Harry, or Potter. Even when I'm dressing as a boy, they still call me Jade," Harry grinned.

Lucius entered the room only a couple of minutes later. "Yes, Harry?" he asked calmly.

"Ron has a question for you," Harry answered easily.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?" his voice and face were calm and unemotional.

Ron stood up. He had started his growth spurt and was already up to five ten, but was still several inches shorter than the older man. He drew himself up as tall as he could, trying unsuccessfully to stare down the more imposing man. He came up woefully short but had to be given points for trying, not many people would try that with someone with the reputation of Lucius Malfoy.

"I want you to tell me why you gave my sister Tom Riddle's journal. You almost got a lot of students killed. Not that you would have cared," he growled.

"Mr. Weasley," Lucius growled lowly. "If your father had done what I had expected of him, none of that would have happened."

"You are not going to say this was my father's fault!" Ron screamed.

"If you want to know, sit down and listen." Lucius ordered. He waited until Ron had followed directions before continuing. "I was ordered to get that journal to Hogwarts, and that was not an order I could turn down. I did, however, do my best to get it into your father's hands before it could get there. I sent one of my house elves to warn Harry and made sure he found out Dobby's name, then showed up at your father's work with Dobby in tow. I thought that certainly your father would put two and two together and realize I was up to something. Then, at the bookstore... What part of my personality makes you believe I would willingly pick up young Miss Weasley's books? You believed me to be helpful, perhaps? If I were your father, the first thing I would have done, what, in fact I expected him to do, was go through and check everything I had touched to make sure I had not hexed or cursed any of her things. That way he would have found the journal and it would never have gone to Hogwarts in the first place."

"So you're saying the whole thing is my father's fault for not being as paranoid as you?" Ron scoffed.

"In a word, yes." Lucius answered easily.

"Why you..." Ron growled, stalking forward.

"Enough," Harry barked. "It's over and done with. Obviously it's my fault."

"What?" came from every throat in the room, including Blaise's who had had little to say up to this point.

"I never told the Weasleys about Dobby showing up and warning me away from school. So that whole part didn't work. Maybe if Mr. Weasley had had that information he would have done what you expected and been more wary." He got up and walked out.

"Oh well done Weasley," Draco turned and glared at the redhead before stalking out.

"Hey, how is this my fault?" Ron asked, confused.

Hermione ignored him and instead turned to the adult in the room, shuddering internally at the volcanic glare pointed at her boyfriend. "Um... Mr. Malfoy? Do you think we should go after him?"

"Why are you asking him?" Ron yelped.

"Shut up, Ron," Hermione bit out, waiting for an answer from the elder Malfoy.

His glare dropped several degrees when he turned it on her, though it was still hot enough to make her wonder if she was going to get a sunburn. "Let Draco deal with him first," Lucius finally said. "He'll probably drag him to Severus and they should be able to convince him it's not his fault. As long, of course, as Mr. Weasley keeps his mouth shut."

"Oh, don't worry," Hermione growled. "He will."

Lucius sketched a curt nod before heading out to help calm down the hurting boy who did not need something else on his conscience.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Lucius probably wouldn't have acknowledged the call if it hadn't been from the lone Slytherin still in the room. "Is there anything we can do about whatever Harry and Draco asked us here to do?"

Lucius thought for a moment. "You're here to help him write a speech he'll be giving during the press conference tomorrow. You might start by making a list of all the things *you* know Fudge has done that made things worse instead of better. Meanwhile, Mr. Weasley needs to think about what he's going to say to Harry when he comes back in here." He took a couple of steps back into the room and loomed over Ron. "I don't care what you think about me. I don't care what you say about me. Your opinion of me matters not at all. However, Harry's well-being does. And if you hurt him again, I'll show you exactly what I learned under Voldemort's tutelage." His voice was low, dark and deadly serious. No one listening had any doubts about the validity of that statement.

He turned and swept out, this time without being stopped.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Let's get started on that list, shall we?" she chirped.

Blaise looked at her with a half smile on his face, while Ron glared, but they did all get to work.

Part 26/?

Lucius stepped through the doorway to find Draco waiting impatiently. "Why haven't you gone after him?" he asked, surprised.

"Because I don't know where he is," Draco said impatiently. "Where's Severus? He should still have a tracking spell on Harry."

"In the library," Lucius answered. As they set off together, he continued. "Why does Severus have a tracking spell on him?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't think it was ever taken off. It let Severus know when he was out wandering after curfew. Usually if he was up that late it was because of nightmares, which he had a lot of," Draco said soberly.

Lucius opened the door to the library only to find they didn't need a tracking spell after all. Harry was there, curled up next to Severus on the couch. Severus looked up with an angry expression. "Which one of those half brained idiots upset him like this?" he growled.

"Hey," Draco said petulantly to Harry. "How come you didn't bop him for that? You would have bopped me if I'd said it."

Harry half laughed. "I like him better," he choked out.

Lucius walked over to them and settled down on the table in front of the couch. Ignoring the conversation going on between the two boys, he focused on Harry. "Harry, look at me," he ordered gently.

Harry's green eyes were pain filled as he finally looked up.

"It was not your fault, Harry. The fault was mine. I made a plan without taking into account all of the possibilities. If I had paid more attention to your own personality, or bothered to find out anything more about you than what Draco had told me, I would have realized it would not occur to you to tell. Even if you had, there was truly no guarantee that Weasley would have made the connections I had expected him to make. In truth, Dobby's part in the plan was just an extra support and not the basis of it. I would have expected him to check just because I was acting so out of character. If he hadn't done it then, do you really believe that telling him about Dobby would have changed anything?"

Harry thought deeply, considering everything he knew about Arthur Weasley. "Maybe not, but I can't know that for sure."

"No, you can't, but you can't know for sure it would have changed anything either. No one got hurt after all. This is not something you can blame yourself for. Blame me if you choose, but not yourself. It was *not* *your* *fault*." Harry was looking at him hopefully, wanting to believe. Lucius stared him straight in the eyes as he repeated. "It was not your fault and I'm sorry you got caught up in it."

Draco and Severus looked at each other with surprise at what they'd heard before turning back to the drama being played out in front of them.

"Why did you want Mr. Weasley to get the journal? Why didn't you just get word to Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Which of the two would you rather have it? Which would you trust to destroy it?"

Harry thought for a long moment. "Neither," he finally said. "Mr. Weasley would probably have given it to the Ministry, thinking they could take care of it, still, I suppose that would be better than letting Dumbledore get his hands on it."

"But you admit that the best thing for the journal was for it to be destroyed, correct?" Lucius asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"And you think neither of the two would have destroyed it, right?"

Harry nodded again.

"And you destroyed it without anyone getting hurt, did you not?" Lucius asked softly.

Harry considered it for a long moment before sighing and nodding one final time. "Not physically anyway."

"So it all worked out in the end, didn't it? Maybe not the best way it could have, but the results were far better than they could have been, and that was all due to you. You saved them from my folly, that's what you need to focus on."

"I suppose you're right," and although he still sounded depressed, his eyes were a little bit brighter.

"Of course he's right," Draco said bracingly. "When have you ever known my father to be wrong?"

Harry looked at him as if he were stupider than a flobberworm. "Um... how about during the time of the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That doesn't count," Draco said airily. "It was the Muggle-lovers fault, not his."

"All right, where's my pillow?" Harry sat up straight and looked around.

"I thought I just couldn't insult them to their faces, or call Granger a mudblood," Draco protested.

"I never said that. The rule is, no insulting my friends, or my friends families, and they're not allowed to insult you or your family."

"What about my friends?" Draco whined.

"You have friends? And you didn't tell me this why?"

"Children!" Severus' sharp tone shut them up quickly. "If you are going to do nothing but argue, shouldn't you be doing it in the same room as those others you've brought here? I don't believe they can be trusted to be left without supervision."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said, but he was smiling once again. He stood up, but leaned back down to hug the older man. "Thanks for being here," he whispered.

"You're more than welcome," Snape whispered back.

A quick glance at the doorway showing no peeping toms, Harry brushed a kiss across Lucius' lips and whispered his thanks before leaving with Draco. Severus was right about one thing, Ron should not be left alone in the home of his favorite enemy. Nor Hermione in a room full of books, even if there weren't as many as in the library.

Back in the study, Ron was complaining. "It's not like the guy even apologized," he groused as Harry and Draco walked back in.

Draco and Blaise burst out laughing and even Harry looked amused.

"What?" Ron growled. "He admitted he did it, he should have at least apologized."

"Never going to happen," Blaise said. Draco heartily agreed.

"Why not?" Ron asked, confused now.

"It would be the polite thing to do," Hermione added.

Blaise decided to explain, since it didn't look like Draco was going to. "Apologizing is something you do to someone that's important to you, or someone who has power over you."

"So I'm not *worth* apologizing to, is that it?" Ron grumbled.

"You can't really apologize to someone that's not important to you. You can mouth meaningless drivel, but a true apology gives someone power over you. Unless that someone is important to you, no it's not worth it. And apologizing is always something that is done in private. I've heard the phrase 'A public humiliation requires a public apology', but I don't know anyone that believes it. Not that I think you're going to get an apology even in private," Blaise hastened to add. "I'm sorry, but I really don't think you're that *personally* important to Mr. Malfoy."

"You've got that right," Draco drawled. "I think he's apologized to me... maybe once. Severus as well, and Voldemort, and that's probably it."

Draco heard Harry make a sound next to him and hoped he wouldn't bring up the apology Lucius had just given him.

"What?" Ron asked.

"I guess that's why Draco wouldn't apologize to you when I asked him, huh?" Harry answered with a smile.

"You got that right," Draco answered.

"If Draco ever does give you an apology," Blaise supplied. "Then, you'll know you're really friends."

"Like that'll ever happen," Ron grumbled.

"I'll admit, I wouldn't hold my breath for it," Harry grinned.

"Oh, do, do," Draco urged.

"You, shut up," Harry told him, but he was still smiling.

"So," Hermione decided to break in before they could start back up again. "Mr. Malfoy told us to make a list of everything Fudge did, that we know of, that was... perhaps not in the best interests of the community. Do you want to look over what we have so far?"

"Sure," Harry replied, taking the list from her, and holding it over so Draco could read it as well.

"Why are we doing this?" Blaise asked as they read.

"I've called a press conference for tomorrow," Harry explained. "After the article in this morning's 'Daily Prophet' I felt the need to set the record straight. And while I'm at it, I want Fudge out of office as well. Do you realize that he came over here yesterday and tried to say Lucius had kidnapped me because I had my birthday party here? He said that I hated all three of them so I'd never willingly be here. Excuse me, but who exactly would kidnap a person and then give them a birthday party and invite all of their friends, even people they don't like?

"And then that article, saying that I defeated Voldemort and the Malfoys were Death Eaters. Nothing in there about how it was Severus, Draco and me that defeated him, and we only did it with the help of Lucius. I want the truth out there, and I want Fudge gone. Now you guys need to help me come up with a speech that will do both of those things."

Hermione blinked and Ron looked shocked before he started grinning. "So you want my dad to be Minister, huh? That'll be great!"

Harry looked at the other boy seriously until the grin had faded from his face. "If all I wanted was someone to take over Fudge's place, I would nominate your father in a heartbeat. I think he would do a wonderful job... with an uncorrupted Ministry behind him. However, that's not what we have now. There is no way someone like Fudge could become the Minister and hold the position for as long as he has unless there is a large amount of corruption in the Ministry itself. I'm sorry, Ron, but I don't believe your father is the best person for the position right now. We need someone who will be able to go in there, weed out and crush the corruption, incompetence and inefficiency that the Ministry is full of right now. Do you really think your father can do that? Think about it and tell me honestly. Do you *really* believe that your father would be cruel enough, callous enough and just plain *mean* enough to do what has to be done?" He held up his hand when Ron opened his mouth. "*Think* about it."

"So you want to nominate Mr. Malfoy?" Blaise asked as Ron had his face screwed up in thought.

Harry grinned. "He needs something to do with Draco at school for ten months out of the year." Then he got serious. "I do believe he's the best one for the job with the situation as it is now. It's going to be a tough job, a seriously difficult job, but I do believe he can handle it. It might very well require the Minister to cut everything out and rebuild it from the ground up. That's not something that a person with a major case of conscious can do. When it comes right down to it, Mr. Weasley is too nice."

Hermione nodded, an expression of understanding on her face. "What other changes do you want? Ones we could tell the reporters?"

"Well," Harry sat back. "First I want the law against werewolves or other so-called Dark creatures repealed. Any sentient being should have the same rights, period. They should also have the same responsibilities. If a were, or vampire, or whatever else, takes the responsibility for it's own actions then it should be treated exactly like any other human that does the same thing. If they can't, or don't, then they should, again, be treated like any other human who does the same thing. If they hurt someone because they didn't take precautions, then they need to be charged with assault or attempted murder. If they do take precautions, then they should not be penalized because of what they are."

"Like Remus," Hermione said, interested.

"Exactly." Harry answered. "And second, I want a law that says no one can be imprisoned without a trial that includes the use of a truth potion or spell. Not imprisoned, or given the Dementor's Kiss, or anything of that sort."

"Like Sirius," Ron put in, trying to show that he was listening.

"So in other words, you're being selfish," Blaise said thoughtfully.

"He is not," Hermione spoke up immediately. "Those are very well thought out and they're certainly needed changes in our laws."

Blaise waved his hand. "I know that. What I meant was that I think he should show himself as being selfish. Right now, there's really not much the wizarding world would deny Harry if he really wanted it. They'll accept better that he's doing this because of his godfather and his friend than because he's interested in politics or something like that."

Draco nodded. "That's part of the reason Father and Severus aren't involved. We don't want anyone to be able to say that they influenced, coerced or put words in Harry's mouth."

Looking around, Harry could see that Hermione and Blaise understood what he was trying for, Ron however, still looked unhappy.

"Ron," Harry said softly. Ron looked up at him. "Do you really think your father *wants* to be Minister? He's always seemed happy with his own job. As far as I've seen, which admittedly is not close to the understanding you have of him, he'd *rather* be dealing with Muggle artifacts, than the pure bureaucracy the position of Minister entails."

Ron opened his mouth, then closed it and looked down. Could he honestly say Harry was wrong? His father did enjoy his job and while he complained of his superiors, he'd never really spoken about becoming Minister. In fact, Ron had only ever heard him speak of it once, and that was simply a matter of not letting Lucius Malfoy have the job. He nodded slowly. He'd talk to his father when he went home, see what *he* wanted.

"Fine," he finally said. "I'll go along with it for now, but only if Malfoy promises he won't do anything to my dad or his job."

"Why would he?" Draco asked. "My father might not like yours, but he knows he's good at what he does. My father is not one for wasting talent."

"Whatever," Ron sighed. "So, what do we do first?"

And the five set to work. With only minimal bickering. Some would say it was a miracle. They might even be right.

Part 27/?

They'd been working on the speech for hours, and still no one was happy with it.

"It still sounds too much like it's set up," Hermione groaned. "Getting Fudge out of office isn't supposed to be the primary reason for the press conference, but as long as we have all these examples, it's going to seem that way. But if we don't have them all, we might not have enough support to get him impeached."

"Too bad we can't get him there and then slip him some Veritaserum or something," Blaise sighed.

Draco's eyes flew open and he sat up straight from where he'd been resting in one of the chairs. "Wait, wait, Blaise that's a great idea!"

Ron sat up too. "Yeah! If we can do that, we could make *him* tell us everything he's done, and in front of the reporters no less!" He didn't seem to realize he'd just agreed with Draco.

Hermione shook her head. "We can't do that. It's illegal to use Veritaserum without Ministry approval, and we certainly wouldn't get it. Besides, how would we get him to drink it?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What if it wasn't a potion?" he said thoughtfully. Suddenly he was standing up. "Wait here," he ordered, before running out of the room. Five minutes later he was back with a book. "I'm pretty sure this is where I found it," he said as he was paging through.

Hermione was leaning forward, trying desperately to see what the title was and if she'd ever read it.

"I doubt you have," Harry told her absently as he flipped through the book slowly. "And no, I can't read your mind, but I know you pretty well," he grinned up at her for a moment before returning his attention to the book. "Here it is!"

Everyone crowded around and tried to read it. Finally Draco had to say, "Back off! He'll tell us what it is when he's ready. Which had better be soon!"

Harry finished reading, and looked up with a blinding smile. "This," he said happily, "Is a spell which allows someone with a magical animal animagus form to use the power of that form, even when in human form. For instance, someone with the animagus form of a unicorn would have healing powers even while human."

"So?" Ron inquired.

"So!" Hermione bounced up, beaming. "A person with the power of a gryphon, would be able to make everyone tell the truth, even while human!"

"Hold on, hold on," Harry put his hand up. "My ability doesn't work exactly like Veritaserum does. I can't make people tell the truth, I can only make sure they don't lie. If he's reacting, instead of thinking words will pop out, but otherwise, there will just be no sound coming out of his mouth if he tries to speak. That means, if he doesn't want to answer, I can't make him. On the other hand, he wouldn't know that, would he?" They all grinned evilly. Even Ron had gotten into it. "The other thing is, I can't direct it to one person. It would work on everyone in the room."

"So the reporters would be forced to tell the truth for once? I don't see that as a bad thing," Blaise put in.

"He's got a point," Ron said, grinning.

"What if he isn't there though?" Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Call him out then," Draco suggested. "Set up another one if necessary, and ask Fudge to be there to answer questions. If every paper is running it, there's no way he could refuse."

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"So," Hermione turned to Harry to ask. "What are the limits of your power? How far does it reach, what does it consider lies, how much leeway would a person have on answering or not answering?"

Harry blinked. "I have no idea," he shrugged. "I've only used it a couple of times, and then when there were only a couple of people around."

"Then we need to find out," she said decisively.

"And I know the perfect way," Blaise leaned forward, his eyes glinting devilishly. "You can't make anyone tell the truth, but you can insure that no lies are told. Sounds like the perfect set up for truth or dare."

The others looked at each other, almost panicked. This... might not be good. Then they thought more and started to grin evilly, or it could be very, very good.

"I am not going to be the only girl here, if we do," Hermione told the others. "I don't trust you boys that much."

"Jade would be here," Draco pointed out.

"It's *not* the same thing," Hermione pointed out acidly.

Harry laughed. "I've got to agree with her there," he grinned.

"What about Ginny?" Ron suggested, knowing that after Hermione, she was probably the girl they all trusted most. "But I don't know that Dad would let her just come here. He wasn't too happy when I came by myself."

"What if Harry goes with you?" Hermione suggested. "We really do need to see how the power works against someone who doesn't know it's there; if he goes with you, you could ask your dad if he wants to be Minister and know you're getting a truthful answer."

Ron nodded his agreement, and Harry looks down at his dress. "I'd better get changed then," he said, standing up.

Draco rolled his eyes, pulled out his wand and pointed it at the boy while saying a quiet spell. Ron had pulled his wand as soon as he'd seen Draco go for his and was standing with it pointing at the blond boy. Harry pulled it out of his hand from four feet away and without even bothering to say the spell out loud.

"What'd you do, Drake?" he said with a long-suffering tone in his voice.

"He made you look like Harry," Blaise informed him.

Harry walked over to the mirror and checked out his reflection. As Blaise had said, he currently looked like Harry, scar, glasses, boy's clothes and all. As he walked, however, he could still feel his skirt dancing around his knees.

"Just don't let anyone hug you," Hermione said with a grin.

Harry grinned back.

He walked over to the book, and picked it up, re-reading the spell one more time before closing his eyes and reciting it. To the ones watching, it seemed as if nothing had happened, but the book suddenly dropped from his hands as he seemed to hunch over, his hands reaching for the ground. Draco was the first to realize what had happened. He laughed.

"What's so funny, Malfoy?" Ron growled. "What's he doing?"

Draco laughed some more, but finally explained. "He shifted to his animagus form. But with my glamourie still on him, we can't see him as a gryphon. He's standing on his four legs, but since we're seeing him as a boy, he looks like he's bent over."

Hermione desperately wanted to go over there and pet him, she'd always loved the feel of his fur and feathers under her hands the few times she'd gotten to pet him, but didn't want to interrupt the spell. Soon enough, he stood upright once again.

"Well?" he asked. "Did it work?"

Ron opened his mouth to ask how they should know, but found himself answering, "Yes." He blinked. "Hey, I didn't mean to say that!"

"Sounds like it worked then," Blaise said. "Only one way to be sure, though. Hey, Weasley, what do you really feel for Granger here?"

"I love her," he answered immediately, before his eyes went wide and he seemed to realize what he said. His blush made him look like a fire hydrant while his mouth opened and closed rapidly with nothing coming out.

Hermione blushed as well, but she had a soft smile on her face as she walked over to him. "I love you, too," she admitted, reaching up and kissing him gently.

That seemed to break him out of his mortification, although he still had a dumbstruck look on his face as he started kissing her back. The other three boys left the two to their snogging session and walked out the door.

"They've been a couple for almost an entire year, this shouldn't be such a big deal," Harry grouched but with an almost sappy grin. "Will you break them up in a couple of minutes?" Harry asked the two Slytherins. "I want to talk to Lucius for a moment."

Draco smirked knowingly at him, before agreeing easily. Blaise looked back and forth between them before agreeing as well, deciding to leave them their secrets, for now. He had no doubt that he would find them out soon enough.


	11. Chapter 28, 29 and 30

Great class today ^_^. I needed one of those after the kindergarten I spent most of last week with.

I can't get my printer to work! :pout: I just installed it on my computer since mom's computer died, but anytime I try to use it, the program I'm trying to print from shuts down. Office, AOL, IE, Notepad, even the HP. All of them shut down immediately when they try to access the printer. This is not good. :pout:

But for the part you care about... Three more chapters! ^_^

Part 28/?

Harry headed down the corridor, towards the library where he had last seen the elder two wizards. A peek in showed Lucius, with Severus nowhere in sight. Perfect.

Harry walked into the room. "Lucius?"

"Yes, Harry?" Lucius said before looking up. When he did, he frowned. When did Harry change into boy clothes and why? "Is there something the matter?" he asked in concern.

"Can you open the Floo connection to the Burrow and let me and Ron go through and then hopefully come back with Ginny?" Harry asked, trying to build up his courage to ask the really tough questions.

Lucius considered. "I could. However, why would I wish to?"

"We're planning a sleepover type thing and Hermione doesn't want to be the only girl," Harry answered easily. "And Ron needs to talk to his father."

"And you need to go, why?" Lucius asked intently.

One thing about his gryphon power that Harry had not told anyone, not even Severus, was that he, himself, was not influenced by it. He had to think deeply about what he was going to say. If he told Lucius what was going on, then he might be able to stop himself from responding when he asked the questions he really, truly wanted to ask, but if he didn't tell him, then Lucius might feel manipulated. Of course, Lucius was a Slytherin, chances were he'd be proud of him for the subterfuge, but did he really wish to take that chance?

Yes, he did. "I need to talk to Mr. Weasley, too," he said easily.

"Which explains why you're dressed like that," Lucius said perceptively.

Harry grinned. "Actually, I'm not, Draco put a glamour spell on me." He walked up to Lucius and put his arms around him. "See?" he whispered, leaning up against the other man's hard body.

Lucius did indeed see. It was quite novel to be looking at a boy's body, and yet feeling the curves of a girl's up against himself. That did not, of course, stop him from wrapping his arms around the body and drawing it even closer.

Harry laid his head against Lucius' chest and took a deep breath. "Which do you like better, Harry or Jade?" he asked quickly almost holding his breath waiting for the answer.

"Harry," Lucius answered immediately.

"Do you want me to go change then?" Harry asked almost inaudibly.

"No," again Lucius' answer was immediate. "Why would I want that?"

"Well, if you like me better as a boy," Harry started.

Lucius shook his head, and took one hand off of Harry's back to raise his head so he could look in his eye. "That's not what I said," he explained. "You didn't ask if I preferred you in a dress or pants, you asked if I liked Harry or Jade better. There is no such person as Jade. There never has been. There is only Harry. Whether Harry is in pants or a dress doesn't matter, whether Harry has breasts or a scar doesn't matter; all I see is Harry."

Harry's eyes went wide and he stared desperately into the silvery-blue eyes looking back at his. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

Lucius seemed to see the question in the yearning on his face and the almost desperate look in his eyes and decided to answer. "It truly doesn't matter to me whether you're dressed like a girl or a boy, I like them both, because they're both Harry. I see the person inside, and that is *always* Harry. I wouldn't care if you decided to dress up as a hippogriff, as long as it's still you. I see you, Harry, no matter what you look like on the outside, and *that's* the beauty that drew me in in the first place. That's the beauty I continue to see. The beauty on the outside... in *both* genders, is just an added bonus."

Harry buried his face into Lucius' robes as he began to sob. He honestly didn't believe he'd ever been so happy in his life. He never had asked Lucius how he truly felt about him, which was the question he'd been planning, but it didn't matter. The answer he'd just been given meant more to him than he could ever say. To know that Lucius truly saw him, and liked him anyway, was a gift beyond measure. He also knew now that Lucius truly was okay with the way he'd chosen to live his life. He'd said it, and Harry could be absolutely sure that he meant it. There had been no lies told only a truth he hadn't known how desperately he needed to hear.

Lucius seemed to understand, and just held him tight, running a gentle hand up and down his back. As the crying finally stopped, he pulled out a handkerchief and carefully wiped most traces of the crying jag off of Harry's face. "This alone should tell you I care about you," Lucius said humorously. "It is not many people that I would allow to slobber up my robes in such a manner."

Harry laughed slightly. "Do you love me?" he asked, before his hands clasped over his mouth. He had *not* meant to ask that. Well okay, he might have thought of it a time or two, but he had not planned on saying it.

Lucius opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He frowned, uncomprehendingly and tried again. But again, there was no sound. He looked at Harry, who had to have something to do with this, and found him to be looking back worriedly.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, softly. Had the older man been trying to say yes? If he couldn't, what did that mean?

"I'm trying to tell you that no, I am not *yet* in love with you. I've only truly known you for a little more than a week after all, and have only known who you are for a couple of days. For some reason, it wouldn't come out before." Lucius glared half-heartedly at the black haired boy. He would have glared harder, but Harry's suddenly beaming face and utterly joyous expression took most of the vitriol out of his expression.

"You tried to tell me that," Harry was almost bouncing, "but you couldn't, could you?"

"I believe I did," Lucius answered.

Harry shook his head, still beaming. "Nope, you didn't. See, I'll ask you again. Do you love me?"

Lucius opened his mouth to reply, again, but nothing came out, again.

"All right Harry, what's going on here?" he growled.

"I found a spell that would bring my animagus aspect out even in human form. And you can't lie in the presence of a gryphon! You're not forced to tell the truth, but you can't lie! And you couldn't tell me that you didn't love me, so that means you do!" He threw himself back into Lucius' arms, not that he'd ever truly moved out of them, but now it was as if he was trying to erase all boundaries that made them two individual people and dive into his skin. He peppered little kisses all over Lucius' face before reaching his mouth and settling in for the long haul. Only Draco's entrance into the room broke them out of it.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Can't you two keep your hands off each other for more than a minute?" he said in a tone of long suffering.

Harry just grinned at him. "I asked him if he loved me, and he couldn't say no!" he announced happily.

Draco lifted an eyebrow. "Congratulations then," he said in an unexcited voice, but he couldn't hold back the smile for very long. "As glad as I am to hear that he finally didn't admit it," he grinned, "though truthfully I don't recall ever hearing you admit it either, the other three will be here in just a moment. I don't believe you want them to find you in a clinch like that, do you? And father, you *really* need to do something about your clothes. You look like you have flobberworm pus all over them."

Harry laughed while Lucius used a cleaning charm on his clothes. The two stepped away from each other so they could be seen as at a decent distance from one another.

Harry turned to Lucius. "By the way," he said softly, still smiling that happy smile. "I love you too."

Before Lucius could say anything in return, the door opened and the other three teenagers came walking in.

Two minutes later, Ron and Harry were at the Burrow and Lucius had withdrawn into himself to try and comprehend what had been said and done.

Part 29/?

Ron and Harry stepped through the Burrow's fireplace and coughed to get the soot out of their throats. Harry tried to get the soot off of his clothes without looking as if he was shaking off his skirt. Things seemed to be in the two boys favor as Mr. Weasley and Ginny were the only people currently in the living room.

"Harry, how nice to see you so soon," Mr. Weasley beamed. "Ron, I thought you were going to be spending the night."

Ron nodded. "I am, but Hermione didn't want to be the only girl there, so we were wondering if Ginny could come with us as well."

Ginny lit up. "Please Daddy? Harry, Ron and Hermione would take care of me. Please? Please?" she begged as well as she knew how. As the youngest of seven, and the only girl, she was very good at it. "No one else is around today and I'm lonely. Please?"

Harry decided to add his own two cents worth. "It would give you and Mrs. Weasley some time to yourself," he suggested.

"Eww, Harry! That's my parents!" Ron complained.

The other three laughed.

"All right," Mr. Weasley said. "If you and Harry promise to take care of her, she can go with you."

"We promise!" both boys said.

Ginny frowned. "I'm not a baby," she murmured, but she said it low enough that her father couldn't hear. She didn't want to take any chances on losing this privilege. She ran up to her room to grab some clothes for tomorrow.

"Grab something you can wear to Harry's press conference tomorrow," Ron yelled after her. Reminded by his own words he turned to his father. "Dad?" he asked.

"Last I knew," Mr. Weasley kidded.

Ron grinned slightly in return before it faded. "Can I ask you something?"

Mr. Weasley put aside the papers he was reading and gave his attention to his son. "Of course, Ron, you know you can ask me anything."

Ron darted a glance at Harry and caught his quick nod. The spell was still active, only truth would be spoken in this room now.

"Do you want to be Minister of Magic?" Ron said in a rush.

Mr. Weasley had a look of surprise and a slight frown on his face. "Minister of Magic, me?" He wondered why his son was asking then darted a glance at the other boy in the room. It probably had something to do with Harry and his press conference tomorrow, which meant that the question was serious and deserved a serious answer. He thought deeply for a few moments. If not him, who? Keep Fudge on? Malfoy? There were no other true choices. He opened his mouth to say yes. Nothing came out.

"What were you trying to say?" Harry asked intently.

"Yes," Mr. Weasley answered. "I was trying to say yes."

"Why?" Harry asked insistently. "If you were telling the truth, you would have been able to say it. Why would you say yes if you don't actually want the job?"

"What other choice is there?" Mr. Weasley asked in return.

"There are other choices," was all Harry would answer to that. "Do you want to be Minister? Do you really *truly* want it?"

"No," Mr. Weasley admitted. "I don't. I would rather keep the job I have now, try to figure out the Muggle things I have, have the time to spend with the grandchild Bill might be giving us one of these days. I don't particularly want the responsibility of the job, especially without knowing who I can trust among the Ministry. But who else could be? If you're trying to get rid of Fudge, I would back you up all I can, but who else could take his place?"

"Harry wants Lucius Malfoy to do it," Ron growled.

Harry put up his hand. "Before you say anything else, and I know how you feel about Lucius, do you believe that Malfoy could do it?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head.

Harry scowled. "Voice please. Tell me out loud, do you believe that Lucius could become Minister and do a good job?"

Mr. Weasley opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Harry shook his head. "You can't lie right now. Obviously you really do believe he could but your own prejudices aren't letting you say it." He turned to Ron. "You see?"

Ron scowled but nodded. He really couldn't argue with Harry, no matter how much he wanted to, his father's own words, or the words he couldn't say actually, had pretty much taken that option from him. He'd agreed to support Harry's choice if his father didn't want the job, and he had admitted that he didn't.

Ginny came down and they were ready to go. Harry pulled out his compact, to the surprise of Mr. Weasley and Ginny. He opened it and looked in the mirror, touching it with his wand. "Voco Malfoy Study."

"Hey Harry," Draco's voice came through the mirror and Ron and Ginny rushed around to look and see what was going on. Harry held the mirror out so that they could see Draco's reflection looking back at him. "Weasley, Weasley," Draco acknowledged before turning his eyes back to Harry.

"We're ready to head back," Harry told him.

"You got it. The Floo will be opened in two."

Harry acknowledged that and closed the compact, putting it away. "Make sure you're ready," he told the other two teenagers. "The Floo at Malfoy Manor will only be open for half a minute at the most. If you want to go, you need to go when it's time."

"Why do you trust him so much?" Mr. Weasley asked quizzically. "You, at least, should see him as he truly is."

"I do," Harry told him. "That's the difference I think. I see him as he truly is, you see him as he *was* or as he has always shown himself to be. No one who's truly bad could have raised a son like Draco, or be loved so much by him. Perhaps, you should look more closely at your own perceptions, before you start to doubt mine. Lucius Malfoy is not a particularly *nice* man, but he is an honorable one. He simply has his own code of honor, and it is one that I can agree with. He is someone that I can trust, for he will never betray me as long as I never betray his family. How can you argue with that?"

"Time's up," he murmured, and walking to the fire took some Floo powder from the jar and threw it in, shouting "Malfoy Manor" as he walked into the green flames. The other two followed silently.

Part 30/?

On the other side of the fire, Hermione and the Slytherins were waiting. Harry nodded to the three younger members of the waiting party, showing them that Ron would go along with his ideas. Hermione stepped forward to welcome Ginny to the group.

"Hey Ginny," Hermione grinned at the red headed girl.

"Hi 'Mione. I hear I'm your backup from all these boys?" she smiled.

"Well, not all," Draco said lowly, canceling the glamour on Harry as well as the aspect spell.

Ginny's eyes got wide as she saw Harry change from the cute boy she knew to a pretty girl. Harry wasn't paying attention to her reaction, paying more attention to brushing the soot off of his skirt and straightening his hair. Only Blaise and Severus were watching the red-haired girl, realizing she didn't know about Harry's cross-dressing.

"Harry?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes, Ginny?" Harry asked, turning to look at her.

"Why are you dressing as a girl?"

Ron looked up at the tone of voice she was using. It was not a tone that usually meant anything good. "Maybe we should leave them alone," he whispered to the teenagers he was closest to.

Draco looked as if he was about to agree, but Blaise shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea, Weasley," he murmured.

Harry and Ginny were ignoring the byplay. "Because I prefer it," Harry admitted, tired of going over the same thing over and over.

"That trick of the twins doesn't last that long," Ginny said darkly.

Harry sighed. "I don't know anything about any trick of Fred and George's," he said, exasperated. "I dress like a girl, because I like dressing like a girl. It's comfortable, I like the way I look and ..."

Ginny didn't let him finish. "You're a *boy*," she said angrily. "You should dress like one."

"Ginny," Hermione tried to intervene.

"Did you know about this?" Ginny glared at her friend.

"I've known for a couple of hours," Hermione admitted.

"And you haven't tried to do something?"

"What's there for me to do?" Hermione was confused. "It's his choice and if that's what he wants, it's fine with me. Besides, I think he looks quite good as a girl."

"Good? GOOD? He's not supposed to look good as a girl! He's a boy!" she was almost screaming. She turned back to Harry who was looking at her as if *she* was acting strange. She wasn't the one who was dressing as if she was another gender! "Go get changed," she ordered.

"That's not your choice to make, Miss Weasley," Severus Snape's voice had a snap in it that all recognized from Potion's class; he was obviously not happy.

"He's my boyfriend, that means it *is* my decision!" Ginny glared right back.

Eyebrows were raised in confusion all over the place. Boyfriend? And why was she even able to say such a thing, wasn't Harry's aspect still up?

"Boyfriend?" Lucius purred the question dangerously, though only Hermione and Blaise seemed to catch that fact.

Harry shrugged at him before turning back to the girl. "Ginny, I'm not your boyfriend," Harry said straight out.

"Look," Ginny said, as if she was trying for patience. "Everyone knows you are eventually going to marry me. I've known it since I first saw you and I've just been waiting for you to figure it out." She turned to Hermione, rolling her eyes as if exasperated. "Boys," she said.

"Ginny," Harry said soothingly. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you that way."

Ginny just glared. "And who else do you think you're going to marry? 'Mione is already taken, and everyone else knows that you're mine and wouldn't dare touch you! And no fiancee of mine is going to go around dressed like a girl! I certainly don't want anyone thinking I'm a lesbian! We will be getting married as soon as I graduate Hogwarts; you're going to be Seeker for England while I stay home with the kids. I've been planning this for years, and I'm not going to let anyone mess it up, not even you!"

"Ginny," Hermione tried logic. "You can't just decide that you're going to marry someone. He's got to want it too, and I don't think Harry does."

"That's what love potions are for," Ginny said reasonably. "He will love me, no matter what I have to do. That's all there is to it. I've always gotten what I really want, and I want Harry."

"And you can't have me," Harry said, starting to get angry. Shock had kept him silent and reasonable up to this point, but this was getting ridiculous.

"Isn't cross-dressing signs of a mental disorder?" Ginny asked abruptly. "That's okay, honey, you just have some weird mental disease. It's probably something the Malfoys did to you. It will all be okay. I think you need to go to St. Mungo's. They'll take care of you until you're the Harry everyone knows and loves, but I'm the only one who will ever truly love you."

During this time, Ron had scooted around to stand next to Lucius Malfoy. Normally he would never ask the elder Malfoy to do anything for him, but this was obviously not a normal situation. "Can you open the Floo back up?"

Lucius glared at the red-headed interloper who's sister was daring to try and possess *his* Harry. "And just why should I do that? Your sister will not be leaving here with her memory intact, and she is very close to not being allowed to leave at all," he growled.

Ron glared but decided not to argue with him right now. "I think we need my mom. She's going to be the only one who can do anything with Ginny right now."

Lucius nodded and Ron was through the Floo before anyone noticed.

"It is not a mental disorder, and it's not anything Lucius or Draco did to me!" Harry glared at the younger girl. "There's nothing wrong with me, but I am *never* going to date you! Get that through your head!"

Ginny stalked forward, ignoring the wands pointed at her from practically everyone else in the room. "I'm going to give you one more chance. Go change back into a boy, come down here and admit that you're my boyfriend and that we will be getting married after we graduate, or I'm going to go tell all the newspapers all of this!"

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" Everyone turned to see Molly Weasley standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her daughter. Somehow, 'angry mother' glare was much more intimidating than 'greasy git Potions Master' glare or 'is he really so ex ex-Death Eater' glare ever could be. "Excuse me," she said politely to Lucius as she grabbed Ginny's ear and dragged her out of the room. Everyone left behind settled down with a sigh.

"I don't understand," Ron looked confused. "I thought she couldn't lie in Harry's vicinity."

Harry shook his head. "The finite incantum that Draco used to get rid of the glamour took the aspect spell down as well. He wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing."

"Thank goodness," Hermione sighed. "If she was able to say all of that with a truth spell up, than she'd be more than obsessed, she'd be mentally unbalanced."

"Where did all of that come from, anyway?" Harry asked, perplexed. "I thought she got over her crush on me years ago."

"Obviously not," Draco smirked.

"Mom will straighten her out," Ron promised.

Severus moved over next to Harry. "Are you okay?" he asked so softly no one else could hear him.

Harry nodded. "Everyone else has been so good about it. Ginny's reaction surprised me, but it doesn't really hurt. She's just... as bad as it sounds, she's not as important to me as the others, and they've all been great about it. The only person left that could really hurt me with a bad reaction would be Siri. Ginny... I like her and all, but she's just my friend's sister, you know?"

"I understand and I'm glad," Severus smiled slightly, sure that he was turned away from everyone else. No need to ruin his reputation with everyone.

Molly walked in. "Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?" she asked kindly.

Harry stood up immediately and followed her into the room she had taken Ginny. In the room left behind, several wands were pointed at the door and an eavesdropping spell was quickly employed.

Molly entered the room containing her daughter with Harry Potter right behind her. "Well?" she ordered more than asked.

Ginny looked at the floor. "I'm sorry I said that I would tell the reporters anything. I won't, I promise. And you do look nice like that."

Harry just stared at her, the coldest most uncompromising look he had on his face. Seeing that look, Molly tried to mediate.

"Now, Harry, dear, I know what she said was bad, but she has apologized. And really, finding out her fiancee was dressing like a girl had to be a shock, don't you think?"

Harry turned the look on her, shock in his eyes. Molly hurried to explain.

"I know, you didn't want your engagement out in public yet, and I certainly understand. You two are much too young to really be considering a lifetime commitment. Still, Ginny was so excited when you proposed that she simply had to tell her mother about it," Molly smiled fondly at the two youngsters, only then noticing that instead of seeming appeased, Harry looked angrier than ever.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, in the coldest voice he could come up with. "I don't know where Weasley here came up with the absurd idea that we were engaged, but it is a complete lie. I am not interested in your daughter, I have never been interested in your daughter, and I'm never *going* to be interested in your daughter. The only thing she has ever been to me was the sister of my friend and I was polite to her because of that, but that is as far as our relationship has ever gone."

Molly's hand was raised in front of her open mouth. "But..." she protested. "Ginny told me of all the plans you've made! How you're going to become professional Quidditch player, hopefully for England, when you graduate, and she's going to be a stay-at-home mother after you get married since you want lots of children. How you're going to rebuild the house at Godric's Hollow for the two of you to live in..."

"Actually," Harry countered. "I'm going to either become a researcher specializing in truth spells and potions, or I'm going to become a writer. I'm hoping to move in with my boyfriend when I graduate, and be pregnant within a year. She did have one thing correct, I do want to have several kids."

"Boyfriend?" Ginny screeched.

"Boyfriend?" several of those listening said in surprise. "Pregnant?" one of them growled angrily.

Harry ignored the angry girl and looked at her shocked mother. "When I told Ginny that I didn't care for her that way, she said that that was what love potions were for."

That knocked Molly's shock into anger, at her daughter. "Ginny?" she snapped. "Is that true?"

"Of course not," Ginny said.

Harry glared at her. He murmured something under his breath and as mother and daughter watched his form shifted. Where Harry had been standing was a black gryphon with a white lightning bolt made out of white feathers just above his jade green eyes. Then he shifted back. He turned to Molly. "Ask her again, no lies can be told in my presence now."

Molly nodded. "Ginny, did you say you were going to use a love potion to make Harry love you?"

Ginny opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"I told you," Harry said seriously. "You can't lie while I'm here." He decided to ask some questions of his own. "Am I your boyfriend?"

No answer.

"Why do you want to be my girlfriend?" Harry asked.

This was one she could answer. "Because you're Harry Potter, of course."

Harry shook his head. "That's the stupidest reason of all. You don't know me at all, do you? You don't care to know me either." He turned to walk out. "Ask her what you will, the truth thing should still work while I'm in the next room. She will not be allowed to leave here with her memory intact, but if she lied to you about this, what else did she lie about?" He left.

He looked tiredly at the people waiting for him. "Can anything be done about her?" he asked, going over to settle next to his foster father.

"Perhaps," Severus said. "Lucius and I will try at least," he admitted. "Now, what's this about 'pregnant'?"

"Forget pregnant!" Hermione disagreed. "I want to know about this boyfriend."

"You can't have one without the other," Blaise leered. He stood up. "Come on, let's leave the adults to deal with the psycho one." Ron wanted to object, but he really couldn't. "Right now, we need something to take our minds off of everything, and I think a good game of truth and dare is just the thing. Especially if we're asking about boyfriends," he grinned and led the way out of the room, the rest of the teenagers trailing after.


	12. Chapter 31, 32 and 33

Geesh, you guys don't like Ginny much, do you?^_^ Sorry if you were hoping for something horrible to happen to her. It's not going to happen... in this story anyway. A few comments about mpreg in here, nothing really worth warning about.

Part 31/?

Severus glared at Lucius as they were left alone. "Pregnant?" he growled dangerously.

"We talked about it a little," Lucius admitted. "He said that the one thing that really hurt him was the fact that because he was gay he wouldn't be able to have children. I simply acquainted him with the difference between Muggle males and wizards."

"He's too young to be thinking of something like that!" Severus argued.

"I thought we already had the discussion on Harry's true and relative ages," Lucius reminded him sternly. "Besides, we already agreed that we wouldn't talk about it until after he had graduated. If we're still a couple at that point, of course."

"You're not thinking of dumping him are you?" Severus said icily.

Lucius sighed in annoyance. "You really need to stop jumping to conclusions, my friend. Do you think I am unaware of the fact that Harry is only sixteen years old? I am fully aware that the boy might eventually decide that I was just an experiment, that he might find someone closer to his own age. I am completely cognizant of the fact that we are not going to get to see each other very often at all over the next two years. Things change. Especially when you are as young in body as Harry is. Right now however, I am simply taking one day at a time when it comes to him. If we are still together two years down the road, which I am hoping we will be, then I will start considering marriage and family."

"But why does *he* have to be the one to carry it?" Severus griped. "You don't want to ruin your figure?"

Lucius' glare was molten in the extreme and Severus suddenly realized he'd gone too far. He'd thought he'd done a fairly good job of trying to get control of his feelings when it came to the two of them as a couple, but children? That was just a bit too much.

"If you had seen his face when he realized that not only could he have children, but he himself can carry them, you would not ask that question. The thing I worry about is his size. It would break his heart if he is not able to carry safely because he's so small. I would carry it if it was necessary, but I truly do not wish to be pregnant." Lucius shook his head. "That, however, is not something we need to deal with for a while. Hopefully he'll grow at least a little more in the next two years."

"You know, if I had known being a father was this difficult, I would have thought twice about it," Severus moaned.

"No, you wouldn't," Lucius smirked. "Which is a good thing," he admitted. "If you hadn't taken Harry in, we probably wouldn't have been a couple."

"Why do you believe that?" Severus asked, surprised.

"Besides the fact that Voldemort wouldn't have been defeated, you're the first adult he's ever truly trusted. You're the one that showed him some adults could be trusted. Where else would he have learned it? The Dursleys?"

Both snorted at that idea.

"He trusted Hagrid and Dumbledore but they showed themselves to be untrustworthy. Black and Lupin could be trusted perhaps, but couldn't be around. You were the one that was always there. He also thinks you're the first person to ever look at him and see Harry, and not Harry Potter. If he hadn't learned to trust and love you, I seriously doubt he would ever have learned it with me."

"So having you as a son-in-law is my curse for being so loveable is it?" Severus asked with a straight face. The two stared at each other for a long moment before letting go and starting to chuckle.

"On that note," Lucius said, standing up. "I think we need to go see what is up with the Weasley females before checking on the rest of the teenagers."

"I bet you never expected to be housing three Weasleys, a Muggleborn and a Potter," Severus kidded as they headed towards the room containing mother and daughter.

"Thankfully I'm only *housing* one of them, and the others will be out of here by tomorrow at the latest." Lucius opened the door and let his friend precede him into the room.

As they went in, Ginny was speaking. "I don't know why this is such a big thing," she was complaining. "You said you'd used a love potion when you were my age."

"The kinds of love potions a student could create can never actually *force* someone to love them," Severus put in. "They can only encourage a feeling that was already there. To force someone to love you is as bad as using Imperio and just as unforgivable."

"It is not!" Ginny argued.

"It most certainly is," Severus asserted. "You're taking away a person's free will and putting your own in its place."

"It's not like that. He'd love me if he got the chance. He just needs a little push. Once he's been with me a couple of times, he'd forget all about that stupid idea of his about being with a guy."

"Ginevra Molly!" Molly Weasley said icily. "I can not believe you'd say something like that!"

"All of this is a moot point," Lucius interrupted. "All we truly need to decide right now is what is going to be obliviated."

"You can't obliviate me!"

"I assure you child, I most certainly can." One stunning spell later the three adults were left to discuss what could be done. Just erasing her memory of the past several hours wouldn't do any good. She'd still have the same feelings and the situation would just be repeated sometime in the future. Erasing her memory of Harry wouldn't work because it would raise too many questions. Especially since he was her brother's best friend. Instead, it was the emotion that had to be erased, as well as several select memories, and that would require more than a simple obliviate spell.

Severus left to put together a potion. If made correctly, which of course it would be considering who was making it, it would dull the emotions of the person who drank it to whatever he or she was looking at at that time. Half an hour later, it was done. Lucius left to get Harry.

Lucius walked into the study where the children had gathered and stopped dead. There was Harry, *his* Harry with his lips on another boy! Anger flared throughout his body. He might not have expected Harry to stay with him forever, but he hadn't expected him to be cheating on him in two days!

Draco saw him come in and just grinned cheekily, holding up his hand to stop him from saying anything as he looked at a watch in his hand. "Time!"

Harry immediately moved back, wiping his lips with his hand.

"Come on, I'm not that bad a kisser!" Blaise complained.

"Just the same, there's only one pair of lips I want touching mine, and yours aren't it," Harry told him seriously.

"Well, if you'd just tell us who it is," Blaise prompted.

"What, and give you no questions to ask me that I'd have to take dares for?" Harry murmured in response.

"Harry, if I might have a word?" Lucius growled. He glowered at Blaise and Harry indiscriminately, finding a small pleasure in the fact that they both paled. Harry's actions might have reassured him slightly, but he was still not happy.

Harry slowly got up, and that's when his eyes actually started seeing something besides anger and lips. Harry's hair was auburn and curly! It didn't look bad; in fact, combined with his eyes he looked a *lot* like his mother had twenty some years before. He looked around, his son was currently sporting blue hair with little twinkling lights while Granger's hair was sticking straight out in all directions. Zabini's hair seemed to be normal and Weasley's... He blinked. Weasley's seemed to be a little bit longer than usual. In fact it seemed to be much, much longer than normal. Bright red hair poured down his back and to the floor to pile around the legs of his chair.

Harry inched past the older man and out into the hallway. As soon as the door closed he turned to the older man. "It was just a dare, I swear!"

"Are you saying you didn't enjoy it?" Lucius purred dangerously.

Harry shuddered, that tone of voice *always* got to him. "It wasn't you," he answered truthfully. "I suppose it was okay, as kisses go, but it was just something I had to do, not something I wanted to do. I don't care for him like I do you, so there wasn't the emotion behind it, and there wasn't nearly the experience. It didn't compare. But maybe we should make sure, and you could give me something to compare it to?"

Lucius stopped and glared at the boy for a moment before grabbing him and pulling him towards him. With one hand in his hair he plundered his mouth, pouring all of his anger and hurt into the kiss. Harry surrendered immediately, letting the older man do what he would and just enjoying the sensation.

Lucius kept the kiss up until there was no trace of any flavor other than Harry. No lingering trace of either the interloper, nor the firewhiskey he had obviously been drinking remained when he finally lifted his mouth. Looking down, he was glad Severus wasn't nearby. Harry's mouth was wet and deeply red, almost bruised, but it was also lifted in a very blissful smile. A smile the likes of which had been nowhere in evidence while kissing the Zabini boy. Maybe there wasn't anything to worry about.

"Definitely doesn't compare," Harry murmured happily.

Lucius led the way back to the drawing room where Ginny and her mother were contained. On route, he explained why Harry was necessary to the hopeful cure. However, he was necessary as *Harry* not Jade, so Lucius replaced the glamour he had been wearing before. It also easily covered the signs of ravishment the blonde had left behind.

When they reached the room, they allowed Ginny to wake. She smiled when she saw a male Harry Potter staring at her. "I knew you'd come to your senses, Harry. You're a boy, not a girl," she said easily.

Harry turned to Lucius and in a whisper asked if Molly was going to be obliviated as well. When Lucius answered that she was, Harry lost all inhibitions he might have had. Right there in front of the two Weasley females, he grabbed Lucius' head and pulled it down so he could reach the other man's lips.

Ginny screeched in anger and dismay. "No! You're mine! Mine!"

Harry reluctantly disengaged and then smiled at the enraged girl. "His," he countered.

While Ginny still had her mouth open to contradict that statement, Severus struck. With expertise only a Potions Master or mediwitch had, he poured the drink down her throat and forced her to swallow. As she looked at Harry, the anger faded from her face and she calmed.

They dismissed Harry back to his friends as the two elder wizards started using 'obliviate' and other memory charms to take away all memory of the day away from the two women. While at it, they also removed any hints that Ginny had ever said the two were engaged. Finally they were allowed to go home and the two men settled back down, convinced the work had been well done.

Part 32/?

*Thirty minutes before*

"I don't know that this is the right time for this, Blaise," Harry complained.

"It's the perfect time for it, Harry," Blaise answered back easily. "There's nothing we can do, so we might as well have fun while we can. Besides, the adults will be too busy to deal with us for a while."

Ron was looking back the way they had come, worried about his sister, but he finally sighed and nodded. That seemed to settle it. It really did have more to do with him than anyone else, and if he could play, so could everyone else.

"What are the rules?" Hermione asked.

"You can decide truth or dare after you hear the question, but you only get five dares," Draco said.

"And if you get a question you refuse to answer after you've used up all your dares?" Harry asked.

Ron grinned. "When I play with my brothers, we sometimes do ultra-dares. Really, really big ones to use in cases like that. Everyone writes down their ultra-dare on a piece of parchment and put it in a bag; whoever is doing an ultra-dare has to pull one out and do whatever it says."

Harry put in his own rule. "A question can only be put to a person once. If he takes a dare, no one else can ask him that question or something else like it to try to get the same answer."

"Oh, all right," Ron grumped.

"Blaise, Granger, do you have any you want to add?" Draco asked.

Hermione decided to add one more. "You can't go back to the person who chose you or the person before that."

"That's right," Blaise agreed. "This is equal opportunity humiliation. As for my rule, you can't choose the same person twice unless you've already chosen everyone else at least once. Or everyone you can anyway."

They all wrote down something for the ultra-dare and then were ready to play.

"Since it's my house, I'm starting," Draco told the others. "Blaise. Straight or gay?"

"Gay of course," Blaise answered easily. He looked around for his victim. "Oh, let's get this started right. Harry, who's your boyfriend?"

Harry glared. "Dare."

"However did I guess?" Blaise smirked. "Let's see, what should it be. Dare number one for Harry Potter... show us your breasts."

Hermione immediately protested. "That's going a little far, especially for a first dare!"

"I was always told to begin as you're going to continue," Blaise smirked.

Harry, meanwhile, had reached up under his shirt and murmured 'unattach'. He handed the fake breasts to Blaise. "Here you go."

Blaise took a close look at them before passing them around. Hermione seemed to spend the most time looking at them, trying to figure out how they worked.

Harry looked over at Ron. Because of 'Mione's rule, he could only choose Ron or Hermione and neither would be able to get him this time... unless Ron chose Draco, but he'd still take his chances with Hermione above Ron. "Okay, Ron, are you still a virgin?"

Ron blushed a deep red, but nodded.

"Uh-uh," Harry tsked. "All answers have to be out loud so we know you're telling the truth."

Ron glared. "Yes," he bit out. "I am still a virgin." He looked around. He *so* wanted to get Harry, but that was against 'Mione's rules. 'Mione or Malfoy... "Malfoy, who was your first shag?"

Draco grinned evilly back. "Nobody, I'm as pure as the driven snow."

"You're lying!" Ron shouted.

"Not possible, Ron," Harry reminded him.

"But he can't be a virgin, everyone knows he's a..." He caught sight of the glare in Harry's eye and settled back down. "Never mind."

"Good choice," Draco drawled. "Granger, I hear you went to visit Krum last summer. How far did you go?" he leered.

"Pretty much all the way across Bulgaria," Hermione answered easily.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Draco growled.

"You should have been more precise," Hermione smiled. "I answered the question you asked, that's all I'm required to do. If you wanted to know something specific, you should have worded it better."

Draco glared but settled back, a gleam of appreciation in his eyes. It had been well-played, and was something to remember.

Hermione turned to her two possible victims and frowned. "Zabini? What are you doing?"

Blaise looked up from where he was writing. "Unless I'm mistaken, part of the reason we're doing this, besides just having fun of course, is to test out the limits and liabilities of Harry's power. I'm simply writing down what you did to get around it. And I wish to add another rule. If that is, Draco knows where his father keeps the liquor."

"And why would I need to know that?" Draco asked even as he got up and retrieved a bottle of fire whiskey and some shot glasses.

"The rule is, if you try to subvert Harry's abilities and fail, you have to take a drink. If you succeed, Harry has to take one. If you succeed because of vague wording on the part of whoever's asking the question, then that person has to take a drink as well. Does that seem fair?"

"No," Harry answered immediately. "That means I have four times as many chances to drink as any of you. How about if you do bypass it, whoever asked the question has to take a drink, while if you try but fail, you have to drink."

The others nod in agreement and the game was on again.

Half an hour later they'd found out that Blaise had a crush on Harry and Draco couldn't sing. Draco couldn't stand Pansy and Hermione thought Snape was sexy. That had shocked everyone, and led Ron into a five minute rant on the greasy git. Hermione's question about whether Ron had ever played around with the twins had sent everyone into shock. Especially when Ron finally admitted that he had.

A moratorium had been placed upon all dares having anything to do with hair under threat of being fed to a rampaging hippogriff. Hermione's was currently standing straight out from her head on all sides, looking like a two foot long mane. Draco's was bright blue with little twinkling lights. Ron's was currently piled around him on the floor while Harry's was a mass of auburn curls. Actually it looked quite good, leading Hermione to complain that it wasn't fair that no matter what, Harry made a prettier girl than not only her, but most of the girls in class.

Blaise hadn't taken a single dare, not seeming to have anything he wouldn't answer. Harry had already taken four dares and was looking a trifle anxious. Especially since Ron, who hadn't seemed able to stop trying to get around his power and never having managed it and was a trifle tipsy, was currently looking at him while grinning like a shark. "So, Harry," he purred. "What are your kinks?"

Harry stared at him. Where was the Ron who couldn't talk about sex without blushing? He'd never expected a question like that from him. And he really had to answer, he needed to save his last dare just in case. He looked around to see everyone looking at him with interest.

"Yes, do please tell," Blaise purred.

Harry dropped his head so that his hair hid his face. There was no way he could say this if he was looking at the others. "Well... I kinda find being ordered around sexy... in certain circumstances."

"Ooh, domination," Blaise leaned closer, "tell me more."

Harry shifted slightly away from the other boy. "I just want to be able to give up control to someone I trust, that's all."

"What about being tied up?" Blaise asked, interested.

"It's not your question," Harry smirked back.

"But it's still part of mine," Ron countered. "I asked for *all* of your kinks, remember?"

Harry blushed even as he glared at Ron. If he could get Ron back, the redhead would *so* regret asking him that question. "I don't know," Harry admitted. "I haven't really considered it."

"I can help!" Blaise said happily. He pulled his wand. "Bindus Totalus!"

Harry found himself bound before anything more could be done. Then reactions set in. Harry grabbed all the magic he could reach, pulling it in and forcing it at the bindings until they shattered under the force. Meanwhile, Draco had thrown Blaise halfway across the room with his own magic, forcing the wand out of his hand and setting him spreadeagle against the study wall. Ron and Hermione sat there with opened mouths and widened eyes.

Blaise was in shock. He had meant it as a joke, but obviously neither Harry nor Draco had taken it that way, and he needed to get control of the situation fast if their blazing eyes and forceful stride towards him were any indication.

"It was a joke!" he said as soon as his brain started working again. "I was just kidding. I'm sorry, I didn't know you would react like that!"

The two's determined march never faltered.

"Harry, he's telling the truth," Hermione said almost desperately. At the moment she was afraid of what the two boys might do. "Remember, he can't lie right now."

Draco made a gesture and Blaise fell to the floor just as the two reached him. Harry reached down and grabbed his hair, forcing his face up to meet his own. "There are only five people in the world that I would trust enough to be helpless around, Zabini," he hissed. "And you are not one of them. If you *ever* do something like that again, I will make your life a living hell."

"And I'll help," Draco's icy stare made shivers go up and down Blaise's spine. He didn't know which of the two scared him more at the moment. "Harry doesn't need another obsessed fan."

Blaise held his hands up slowly. "I'm not," he promised. "Although I do think he's cute, and I will admit to having a crush, I realize it's not going to happen, and I'm fine with that. I was just having some fun, and I went too far. It won't happen again."

"Make sure it doesn't," Harry snarled. Then he stood up and walked back to the others, sitting down and taking a gulp of the firewhiskey in front of him. Ron and Hermione were still staring. They had never heard their friend sound so dangerous.

Harry stared around and then smiled almost nastily. "Hermione," he purred. "To the best of your knowledge, what kinks does Ron have?"

Ron's complexion hovered at some strange color between fire-engine red and puke green. How was his girlfriend going to get him out of this?

She wasn't. Instead she smirked right back at Harry. It was justice after all. "Well," she said, tilting her head in thought. "He's told me some very interesting fantasies involving food products."

"Hermione!" Ron wailed. "Couldn't you have taken a dare?"

"Why should I have?" she answered airily, before going for a victim of her own. "Blaise?" she asked sweetly. "Tell me a fantasy you've had about a teacher, if you please?"

Blaise blanched. He *really* didn't want to answer that. Especially not in present company. After what had just happened, he really didn't want to know what Harry would do to him if he found out he'd been lusting after Professor Snape as well. He knew Harry thought of the older man as a father, and there were some things people just didn't want to hear. "Dare," he answered, cringing.

Hermione smiled superiorly. She'd been the only one to make Blaise take a dare. She thought for a moment. "You need to make up with Harry," she finally announced. "Kiss him. Thirty seconds, timed by Draco, no tongue required."

"'Mione!" Harry exclaimed. "You're supposed to be punishing him, not me!"

"Hey, you might like it," Blaise complained. "Besides, it's a dare, you can't turn down a dare." He moved towards Harry and pressed his lips down.

It was only the second person Harry had ever kissed and he analyzed the feelings he was getting. The lips felt good, but they didn't feel like Lucius'. There wasn't that spicy, almost pure magic flavor, or his tantalizing scent. Sure, there was a scent, but it was nothing like Lucius' musk. It just really didn't compare. He was so busy analyzing, he never heard the door open.

"Time," Draco called, smiling at his father, and trying to hide the worry he was feeling. He'd actually cut five seconds off of the time, not wanting to further his father's anger. He knew how possessive the older Malfoy could be, and there was no way he was happy. Harry's actions as he pulled away from Blaise were perfect, especially considering the other young man didn't know Lucius was there. That made them completely real, and not just done to aid in defusing his father's anger.

Harry had looked up after wiping his face and speaking to Blaise to see Lucius standing there. For a moment he was scared at the look on the man's face, and he could feel himself paling. However, it had taken but a moment for that feeling to fade. Lucius would never hurt him. He knew that instinctively and with all of his being. He *trusted* Lucius. With his hopes, his dreams, his secrets, himself. As he rose to his feet to follow the older man, he smiled internally. *This* was the man he loved. He might have had to kiss another boy, but if it got him ravished as it looked as if it would, then it had been worth it.

Part 33/?

Harry walked back into the room. "Well?" Ron asked immediately.

"Your mother and sister are fine. Sev used an anti-obsession potion or something, to try to get her over me, then they messed with their memories a little. Pretty much just made them forget about Jade. They think the argument was over me being gay. And Ginny knows it, but is being restrained from saying anything or writing anything about it."

Ron nodded. He might not like the idea of Malfoy and Snape messing with his family's minds, but there really wasn't much he could have done about it, and at least they hadn't changed much. That is, if they hadn't lied to Harry. Then again, they couldn't at the moment, could they?

Blaise, meanwhile, was having a quiet panic attack. He was dead. He was *so* dead. He was *beyond* dead. He was 'killed and sent to the lowest depths of Hell to be tortured for all eternity' dead. Harry's lips were bruised. He hadn't done it. There was no way that little kiss he had given the other boy had left his lips looking so well kissed.

That meant that someone else had kissed Harry while he was gone. It was *possible* that the Weasley girl had grabbed him and laid one on, but the boy looked too happy for that. That meant someone else had kissed him. Someone in the house. As far as he knew, the only other ones in the Manor were Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. And he knew how Harry felt about Snape.

That meant it was Lucius Malfoy.

Harry's boyfriend was Lucius Malfoy.

He, Blaise Zabini, had dared to lay hands and lips upon Harry Potter.

Harry Potter, who belonged to Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius Malfoy, who had been a Death Eater.

Lucius Malfoy, who had seen him with his hands and lips on Harry Potter and had not looked happy.

*Lucius Malfoy's* Harry Potter.

Lucius Malfoy was known to be possessive and to not like to share.

He was *so* dead.

Draco had been watching his friend and seen the panic on his face. It was fairly obvious that he had figured out just who Harry's lover was. He smirked as he dropped down next to him.

"Is there a problem, Blaise?" Draco inquired genially but quietly.

"I'm dead," Blaise whined softly.

Draco laughed. "If he ever finds out about that binding spell you tried you might be. But I'm sure Harry told him it was just a dare."

"Do you think that will matter to him? He's scary and mean and could kill me and hide the body and no one would ever know. He's..."

"My father," Draco said warningly.

Blaise dropped his eyes, understanding the warning for what it was. Draco would not accept any criticism of his father.

"So who's turn is it?" Harry asked, breaking the spell between the two boys.

"We were waiting for you to come back," Hermione explained. "So it's still Blaise's."

Blaise thought quickly, he was not up to this yet, but he'd never let the Gryffindors know that. "Weasley," he decided. "What's the one thing about your girlfriend that you dislike the most?"

Ron immediately opened his mouth before his eyes were caught by Hermione's. "Dare," he squeaked.

Blaise tilted his head and thought for a moment, before grinning evilly. "We know how Harry looks as a girl, I think we should find out how you look. I dare you to get *seriously* dressed in Jade's clothes."

"What do you mean, seriously?" Ron asked warily.

"I think he means me and 'Mione had better help you out," Harry laughed. Hermione giggled in agreement. "Come on Ron, let's see what I've got that would look good on you." He led the way out of the room and upstairs.

Ron gathered up his hair and followed. "Not green though, right?" Ron grumped.

"Actually, I think you'd look good in green," Harry said thoughtfully. "A dark green though, not a light one."

"I agree," Hermione answered as they walked into Harry's room. She gasped. "Harry! Don't tell me you actually wear something like this!" She picked up the outfit still on his bed from when he'd changed earlier.

Harry looked at the leather she was holding up and started to chuckle. "You should have seen it 'Mione! Draco said I should dress more 'girly' for when you guys came, and it pissed me off, so I went down in that. It was a kind of gag gift from some friends of mine. Anyway, you should have seen their reactions! They all were completely shocked. The funniest though was Sev." He stopped talking and laughed some more.

Hermione smiled, thinking of their reactions. Just seeing Ron's reaction to the leather gave her some idea of what it had been like, even though she was just holding them instead of wearing them. "What did Professor Snape do?" she asked, interested.

"He said... he said..." Harry tried to imitate his foster father. "'What the hell do you think you're wearing? No child of mine is going to wear such vulgar clothes! March right back up those stairs, young lady, and change into something decent!' "

Even Ron had to laugh at that.

"He didn't!" Hermione denied.

"He most certainly did! It was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. We were all laughing our butts off."

"Even Malfoy?" Ron countered.

"Both Malfoys," Harry acknowledged.

He walked over to the wardrobe while still chuckling over the remembrance of the scene. The others might laugh at hearing it, but nothing could have compared with being there. He opened the wardrobe and started looking through his clothes.

"You certainly have a lot of clothes," Hermione said softly.

"Probably more than I should," Harry admitted. "Especially since I'll have grown by next summer. Or at least I certainly hope so."

"So you plan on keeping this up?" Hermione asked carefully.

"Keeping what up?" Harry inquired.

"Dressing like a girl," Hermione answered. "Next summer maybe all this fame will have gone away."

Harry looked at her seriously. "If I hadn't had that problem with my fans I never would have dressed like this in the first place. But now... yes, I will keep it up." He changed the subject. "What do you think about this?" He pulled out a pine green sheath dress.

"The color would look good on him," Hermione admitted. "But don't forget he's taller and has broader shoulders. He'd probably tear that apart."

Harry looked at it, then nodded. She was right. He needed something that was either really loose on him or could expand. "Maybe a broomstick?" he asked thoughtfully.

"How can I wear a broomstick?" Ron confusedly asked.

"A broomstick skirt," Hermione grinned. "That would probably work."

"I think..." Harry considered. "I should have a wrap-around blouse that will work. No, never mind, we need something sleeveless, don't we? Or wait a minute. What about a peasant blouse?" He pulled out a black peasant blouse and a dark green broomstick skirt and held them up for her approval.

She nodded and turned to her boyfriend. "Well? What are you waiting for? Strip!"

"I can't strip right here!" Ron protested. "In front of you two!"

Harry stared at him strangely. "I've seen you in a lot less," he reminded him.

"But you weren't dressing as a girl then!" Ron objected.

Harry blinked. "You do know that makes no sense," he told him.

"Doesn't mean it's not true," he grumbled.

Harry and Hermione just laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll leave," she told them. "But you're going to need Harry's help, so just deal with it. After all, in a couple of minutes, you're going to be dressed just like him." She left the room and headed back downstairs.

As the three Gryffindors were dealing with Harry's closet, the two Slytherins were still downstairs, talking.

"Are you sure he's not going to kill me?" Blaise asked.

"No," Draco answered casually. "I'm not. I guess it depends on what kind of mood he's in next time he sees you. Especially if he ever finds out you have a crush on Harry."

"Had a crush. I think it's definitely *had* a crush. The idea of having a crush on Lucius Malfoy's lover scares the magic, and all lustful thoughts, right out of me."

Draco laughed. "They're not lovers yet. They keep getting interrupted."

Blaise got serious. "What do you think about them? How are you going to feel if it's serious on your father's part and Harry becomes your step... mother?"

Draco glared. "I'm not going to ever think of him as my step-mother, that's for sure. However, them as a couple is something I fully support. I think they're good for each other."

"So," Blaise said slyly. "Does that mean your father is into domination?"

Draco's glare jumped several notches. "I might support them, but that does not mean I want to know anything about my father's sex life, thank you very much."

There was silence for several minutes before Blaise spoke again. "What do you think about what Harry said about being pregnant?"

Draco considered the question for a long moment. Both boys were so caught up in their conversation they didn't hear Hermione come to the door and stop at hearing that question.

"I think it's going to happen," Draco admitted. "Harry really wants a family, and that's more than just a lover and a stepson. I always wanted a little brother or sister, and at least with this much age difference between us, I can be sure they're not going to be trying to steal my toys."

Hermione gasped, and the two boys spun around to see her standing there. "Brother or sister?" she whispered, almost inaudibly. "Does that mean... Harry's boyfriend... is your father?" By the end of that statement she wasn't whispering or anything close.

"You want to say it a little louder?" Draco said harshly. "There are some witches in Dover that didn't hear you."

Hermione ignored that. "Why would Harry hide that from us?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Weasley's reaction to Jade might have been much better than he expected, but that still doesn't mean he wants to deal with the repercussions of him finding out about Harry and my father."

"Ron can be a little hot-headed at times. It's the red-head in him." Hermione agreed. "But Harry still should have given him the chance to decide on his own."

"Not when we have important things like putting a new Minister of Magic in office to deal with. Once things aren't quite so critical, and once my father and Harry are a little more settled, *then* he'll tell him. Right now however, they only just had their first date. Now is not the time to have a doubter or shouter around."

How could Hermione argue with that? Though she had no doubts that Ron would and could. She did not want to be around when Ron found out. Not to mention when he found out that he was the only one that didn't know.

Before any more could be said, Harry entered the room. "Introducing... Veronica!" he said grinning madly.

Ron walked into the room, glaring around at the occupants. He was dressed in the black and green combination Harry had picked out for him and was looking pretty good. Much more obviously a boy than Harry was, and would be even if he was wearing fake breasts, he still looked much better than they had been expecting. The long hair was a little much, but then, that's why it had been part of the dare. Draco was a little unhappy. It would have been much more fun to heckle him if he'd looked bad. Then again...

"Looking good, little lady," he said smarmily.

"Stuff it, Malfoy," Ron growled. He turned his glare on Harry. If it hadn't been for Harry being Jade, this dare wouldn't have been possible, and since he couldn't get back at the person who had dared him, he'd go for the next best person. "Harry," he said silkily. "You said earlier that there were only five people you really trust. I'm pretty sure we're three and Snape is four. Who's the fifth?"

"Dare," Harry sighed. He really couldn't say without giving much more away than he wanted to, but this was his last dare.

"Hmm... I want you to make out with"

"No," Harry interrupted.

"What do you mean, no? It's a dare."

"I don't care," Harry said seriously. "I'm not kissing anyone again. It's like cheating on my boyfriend."

"If you're not going to take the dare, you have to take an ultradare," Ron warned him.

"Ron, that's not fair," Hermione said, frowning.

"Of course it's fair," Ron smirked. "That's the way it works. If you don't take the dare, you have to take the ultradare."

"Fine," Harry said before anyone else could start to argue. "But if it turns out to be a kissing one, I'm not going to do it."

"Okay, if it's a kissing one, you can pick another one," Ron conceded. He reached over to the bowl holding the ultradares they'd written at the beginning of the game and pulled one out without looking. He opened it up and read it to himself. He raised an eyebrow and looked over at Draco, then turned to Harry. "It says, 'Whoever gets this ultradare must wear the special present I, Draco, got for Harry for his birthday. They must wear it for the rest of the night.'"

"Draco!" Harry shrieked.

"This should be interesting," Blaise said softly to Hermione who was sitting next to him.

Thirty minutes later, Draco walked into the library, his hair it's normal blond. "Was everything taken care of?" he asked lightly.

"Indeed," Lucius said, darkly. "Is your game over?"

"What's your problem, father?" Draco asked. "And yes, the game's over."

"My problem, as you say, is that I don't believe either of the others in that room would have given Harry such a dare. *Why* did you make him kiss Zabini?"

Draco dropped down onto the couch. "Lot you know about them," he smirked. "Granger is the one that gave him that dare. Of course, she gave it to Blaise, not Harry, but since it involved both of them, that doesn't really make a difference, does it?"

"Indeed not," Lucius growled softly, still remembering watching Harry and Zabini kiss. "Why did she decide that it was a suitable dare? Why was he not asked to kiss... you perhaps?"

"Because she knew Blaise was gay and that he had a crush on Harry. And since he wouldn't tell anyone who is boyfriend was..." his voice trailed off and he ducked his head to hide his grin.

"He does, does he?" Lucius' growl was louder. "And where exactly would your guests be now?"

"In their rooms," Draco admitted. "Harry's hiding though."

Lucius' stare knifed into him. "Why? What did they do?"

"It was pretty much the last dare. Weasley tried to make him kiss someone, but he refused so he had to take an ultradare, which, unfortunately, was mine. The dare specifies he has to wear it for the rest of the night, but it doesn't say he has to be around people, so he put it on, came to show us, and then disappeared."

"Wear what?" Lucius asked, confused.

"Why that nightgown I bought him for his birthday," Draco smirked. "He's wandering the house, dressed in nothing but the little green babydoll nightie with feather edging. Maybe you should find him, before someone else does?"

Draco started laughing as Lucius headed quickly out the door.


	13. Chapter 34 and 35

It's really hard to figure out what graphic means to me. I couldn't cut the scenes out, it's character development and relationship development. But when I said I didn't want graphic sex in any of my stories posted here, I meant it. I ended up rewriting some of it, (though only a little), and cutting a few lines out (hopefully you won't even notice). Please let me know if it works, or if I should have cut more out. (I'm not going to add more to it. I hadn't planned that even before that program started running around .

Part 34/?

Severus was walking down the hall when he saw Harry ahead of him and stopped to stare. Harry was a vision in green silk. "Harry?" he gasped.

The vision in green turned towards him and blushed.

"I don't want to know," Severus immediately decided. "I really just *don't* want to know." Without another word he turned on his heel and headed in the other direction.

Harry stared after him. *That* had been a strange reaction. He shrugged and padded on.

He had seen himself in the mirror, and internally had to admit that Draco had good taste. The silk felt wonderful on his skin and skimmed over him without regard for whether he had curves or not. The black feathers edging the bottom hem brushed over his thighs, tickling and arousing him all at the same time.

He opened the doors in front of him and blinked quickly, letting his eyes react to the bright sunlight pouring through the wall of glass. He'd only been in the conservatory once before, and he felt as if this would be a good time to come back. It was not a place his friends would ever think about looking for him, but hopefully one person would. If he'd figured it right, Draco wouldn't be able to resist telling his father how he was wandering around in nothing but this nightgown. He'd seen Lucius' reaction to it before and was hoping for more of the same now that he was wearing it instead of just holding it up. He slipped out of his underwear and sandals and left them behind one of the small trees just inside the doorway. When he stood up again, he gasped, wide-eyed. He knew how the feathers felt against his thighs, but for some reason it had never occurred to him how they would feel against his other, more sensitive, parts of his anatomy.

He carefully walked toward the center of the room. One of his favorite flowers had pride of place there. He settled to the ground and just watched as the crystal rose reflected the sunlight in a multi-dimensional kaleidoscope of colors. It was almost ten minutes later before he heard the door open.

"Harry?" Lucius' voice curled through the room, seeking.

"Lock the door," Harry ordered quietly as he rose to his feet.

Lucius did as he was asked and turned back around to just stop and stare. Intellectually he had known what Harry was wearing, and he'd thought he'd had some idea of what that would look like. He was wrong. The sun shown through the green silk, not turning it transparent, but outlining and shading practically everything underneath. The only mysterious thing was what was under the black feathers that somehow seemed to cover all of the important bits.

Lucius started to stalk forward but stopped when Harry held up his hand. "Is something the matter?" he purred.

Harry smiled shyly. "I kept wanting to see your chest, but you never got your shirt off," he reminded the older man. "Take it off, please."

Lucius smiled slightly as he did as instructed. While he was at it, he also removed his shoes and socks and headed towards the radiant boy dressed in nothing but a pair of tight fitting slacks.

Harry watched him coming towards him and smiled brighter, his eyes busy taking in the smooth muscled chest and strong shoulders. As Lucius got closer, Harry suddenly turned and started running away. His laughter drifted behind him as he darted away, leaving a paralyzed man behind him. When Harry turned and ran, the nightgown had flipped up in the back and he'd glimpsed the round globes of his bottom, leaving no doubt that he was not wearing any underwear.

With a growl, Lucius chased after the young satyr.

He found Harry standing in front of one of the windows looking out. The sun was just touching the horizon and the sky was a glorious mixture of pinks, purples and blues. "Watch the sunset with me?" he asked softly as Lucius walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him back to lean against him.

"Certainly," Lucius answered. "But not here." He regretfully loosened his hold and took Harry's hand, leading him to a corner of the room where there were no plants. A whispered word and they were flying upwards. Harry shouted in surprise then laughed at the sensation. They rose up, seemingly passing through the roof of the conservatory.

Harry looked around wide-eyed as they continued going higher. "Can we go over there?" he asked, pointing towards a hilltop about a quarter mile away.

"I'm afraid not," Lucius replied. "This trip only has one ending. And we're here."

'Here' was a round platform standing, seemingly unsupported, at least two hundred feet above the top of Malfoy Manor. Although Harry had looked up as they were flying, he'd seen no signs of the carpeted floor or soft chairs and large fluffy pillows that were in his vision now. The platform was round and seemed to have no walls or ceiling, although none of the furniture showed any signs of weathering and there was no wind.

Lucius kept hold of Harry's hand as he walked towards the westward side of the platform and transformed one of the chairs into a chaise lounge. He settled down on it and pulled Harry down to settle between his legs.

Harry sighed as he melted into the larger body holding him. He could feel the heat of Lucius' bare chest through the silk on his own back as well as the arms wrapped around his middle. Together, silently, they watched the sun dip slowly beneath the horizon, leaving behind only bands of brightly colored clouds. They stayed there contentedly as the first stars twinkled into existence above them.

"No one can interrupt us here, can they?" Harry said thoughtfully.

Lucius tightened his arms and nuzzled the neck just in front of him. "It's highly unlikely," he agreed. "We're actually in the topmost room in a tower that not even Draco has learned about. The entire structure is covered with so many invisibility charms that even if someone came flying right in front of that window there, they wouldn't be able to see us."

"Not even Severus?" Harry asked intently just to make sure.

Lucius smiled, understanding. "Not even the man with the worst timing in the world," he agreed.

Harry immediately turned around. He stopped suddenly, his breath hissing in audibly.

"What's the matter?" Lucius asked worriedly.

"Feathers," Harry gasped.

Lucius laughed deeply as he understood and let his hands drift down Harry's silk clad back. They kissed for a long moment before Harry pulled back. Finally he was able to explore to his heart's content. His hands drifted over the planes and valleys of Lucius' chest and he watched his tanned hands move against the pale skin before him. Lucius gasped as Harry's hands found his nipples and began to play with them. His own hands had separated. One was resting between Harry's shoulder blades while the other had moved farther down and was currently exploring just above the line of feathers.

Lucius raised the hand on Harry's back to the back of his head and started to gently urge it down. It took only a moment for Harry to understand what was wanted and he licked his lips as he bent down to one of the nipples peaking up before him. Remembering what Lucius had done to him he started licking and sucking on the peak, rejoicing at the groan that was his reward for his actions.

Lucius let his hand drift farther down, over the feathers and back up underneath.

Harry groaned and bit around the flesh in his mouth as he felt Lucius' warm hand cupping the bare flesh of his bottom. He moved his mouth across to the other nipple and wiggled his bottom slightly to encourage the hand that was on it.

Lucius had both hands rubbing at the firm, Quidditch-toned ass. Harry had moved away from his nipples and up to his neck, nipping and sucking indiscriminately. Lucius slowly moved his hands around. "May I?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yes, yes, please," Harry begged desperately.

Lucius didn't hesitate any more.

Harry cried out softly. It was the first time anyone else had ever touched that part of his body and he couldn't believe the difference in the feelings.

Lucius stopped and took his hands away.

"Wha?" Harry protested.

"Shh," Lucius calmed him. "I'm just moving us a bit," he explained. What seemed like only seconds later, Harry was laying down upon the expanded chaise lounge, with Lucius stretched out next to him. Lucius kissed him deeply as his hand took up where it had left off. Within seconds Harry was moving, pressing up into the hand touching him as they continued to kiss.

Finally, a need to breathe forced their mouths apart. "What do you want?" Lucius whispered huskily into Harry's ear.

"Talk to me," Harry begged prettily. "Please, I want to hear you."

One of Lucius' eyebrows raised. He'd expected Harry to ask him to bring him off or even to suck him, but to *talk* to him? Still, if that's what Harry wanted, that's what Harry would get.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, in the most seductive purr he had, the one which could cause the straightest man to pant after him like a dog in heat. "Do you want me to tell you how I felt seeing you this morning? Dressed in those little scraps of leather? How I wanted to push you down over the nearest chair and spank your bottom red?" He instantly knew he'd said something wrong as Harry stilled beneath him and the rock hard erection in his hand actually started to wilt. He hurried on, hoping to get his lover past his faux pas. He started to describe a much more vanilla fantasy and was happy to find Harry's erection back to full strength and that the boy was moaning underneath him once more. "I didn't like that collar though, I hadn't put it on you." Harry's cries got more desperate and Lucius' hand moved more roughly. His other hand was rubbing at himself through his pants. "Would you like that? To occasionally wear my collar? To know that while you wore it, you belonged to me and your body would be mine to play with?"

Harry screamed out "LUCIUSSSSSSSS!" as his orgasm thundered through him, his back arching into a bow. As he listened and felt what was happening, Lucius' own orgasm caught him by surprise. For the first time since he was sixteen, he came in his pants.

Lucius did a quick cleaning charm and settled down, pulling Harry into his embrace. He couldn't help thinking how beautiful he looked, still dressed in silk yes, but it was the expression on his face that was the real beauty. A deeply sated and incredibly happy look, but most of all, an extremely content one. Harry cuddled closer and then frowned as he started to come around a little. "What about you?" he asked worriedly, his hand worming down.

Lucius caught it gently. "I'm fine," he whispered. "Go to sleep."

Harry did as he was bid and Lucius settled in to watch him sleep. He knew there was much to be talked of when they woke up, but right now, he wanted to spend the time, just like this. Slowly, without his noticing, he too drifted off to very pleasant dreams.

Part 35/?

Lucius woke and reveled in the feeling of being warm. It had been a long time since he'd slept with someone he trusted enough to sleep deeply in their company. He opened his eyes to see Harry sitting up slightly, looking down at him with a contemplative look on his face.

"What are you thinking?" Lucius said softly.

Harry blinked as if he'd been startled out of a trance. He finally spoke. "How come the birds don't hit the tower?"

Lucius was a surprised into a chuckle. "Because of a number of very powerful avoidance charms set far enough out that there's no sudden turn away from the tower."

"This isn't all of it, is it? I find it very difficult to believe that the Malfoy's would have a place like this just to have a place to watch the sunset."

"No, Harry, this isn't the only part of it. Different parts can be reached from different parts of the Manor, if you know where they are. Draco will be given the secrets when he's eighteen, just as I was, and my father before me."

"It must be nice," Harry murmured, settling down into his arms again.

"What must be?" Lucius inquired softly.

"To have that kind of link to your past, to have secrets passed down from father to son. To know that where you are is where your father's father's father once was. To have that sense of permanence, of relationships. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do understand," Lucius admitted. "I'm a Malfoy. There are times I dislike being a Malfoy, but I'm always proud of it, because I know what it stands for. But sometimes having a name just constrains you to doing what all Malfoys have done, because no one would accept anything less." He looked at Harry, who was glaring slightly. "And you know all about having to live up to a name."

Harry nodded.

"You know, as interesting as this conversation is, I don't think it's really what's on your mind. I know it's not what's on mine."

Harry blushed and ducked his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Sorry? For what possible reason could you be sorry?" Lucius asked, surprised.

"I didn't do anything for you," he muttered. "We didn't even get out of our clothes! And you wouldn't let me touch you."

"Harry, you do realize that last night was the first time I've come in my pants since I was your age, do you not?"

Harry looked at him quickly. "You came?"

"I did indeed, the same moment you did," Lucius assured him. "As for not even getting naked, we're taking this slowly, remember?"

"Slowly is one thing, but this is like slower than a snail's pace," Harry complained.

"Is it? Is it really? Or does it just seem that way because so much has been going on? Think about it for a minute."

Harry considered Lucius' words and slowly had to admit he agreed. It might seem like they were going very slowly, but they'd only been together for a couple of days.

Lucius waited until he saw agreement in Harry's face before he continued. "Last night was right. We needed the time together without interruptions, we needed to connect after the problems with the youngest Weasley, but we didn't need to go so far that it would be bothering you today. It's an important day for you. Hopefully for us both."

"So, we shouldn't talk about the other stuff, either?" Harry said eagerly.

"Now that I don't agree with. Not only can leaving it like that make it fester, but I need to know your reactions to certain things. I almost messed things up yesterday. And it will happen eventually. Things don't go perfectly all the time as much as I might try to demand they do. But if something happens like it did last night while I was talking, we *do* need to talk it over, if only to insure it doesn't happen again."

Harry pulled himself out of Lucius' arms and walked across the room. He stood at the edge of the floor, on the opposite side from where they'd watched the sun go down and realized he could see the bare beginnings of the dawn that was coming, the slightest lightening of the sky to the east.

Lucius decided to start it out and walked over to stand behind him. "You liked what I said about the collar, didn't you?"

"I'm not a slave," Harry argued.

Lucius barked out a laugh. "Trust me, Harry, the absolute last thing I would ever think of you as, is a slave."

"But, I like it when you order me around," Harry whispered forlornly.

"But if I ever told you to do something you really didn't approve of," Lucius said. "I have no doubt you'd tell me exactly what to do with that order."

Harry chuckled. "You're probably right."

"I am a possessive bastard on occasion, but that's never seemed to bother you before," Lucius reminded him.

Harry shrugged. "It makes me feel important to you," he admitted.

"You are."

Lucius turned Harry around and looked him straight in the eyes. "There are some things you should know," he said softly. "Number one; stop means stop and no means no. I'm fully cognizant with the meanings of both of those words. If anything I do ever hurts you, scares you, brings back bad memories, or is even something you're not sure you like, *tell* me, immediately. I will stop, I promise you that."

He waited until Harry nodded his understanding. "Number two, I will never willingly or knowingly harm you. What I said about spanking," he felt Harry shudder and gathered him in. "I'm sorry. If I'd been thinking I wouldn't have said that."

"You just said you'd never hurt me, but you were still talking about beating me," Harry whispered.

Lucius pulled back so he could look in Harry's green eyes once more. "No, actually I wasn't. There's a world of difference between a beating and an erotic spanking. One is for pain while the other is for pleasure."

"I don't know," Harry answered, almost eerily calm, "Uncle Vernon seemed to derive great pleasure from it. So did Dudley and Piers and"

Lucius stopped the words in the simplest way possible. After he drew back he smiled sadly down at the boy. "I meant pleasure for the recipient. Don't worry Harry, it's not something that I will ever bring up again. I promise."

Harry just nodded, not looking entirely convinced but willing to let it go for now.

"I have some books," Lucius suggested. "I want you to take a look at them sometime when you have free time. They might help explain some of what you're feeling, as well as what you want."

"You have books like that here?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Not in this room, but in the tower, yes," Lucius admitted. "This tower seems to have two main purposes, learning about the Dark Arts, and learning about sex."

"And yet, Draco's not going to learn about it until he's eighteen?" Harry asked in total disbelief.

Lucius laughed. "Trust me, even then he'll have much left to learn. It's one of the problems and benefits of being at a school most of the year, you don't have anyone to teach you the things you need more experience for."

Harry just shook his head.

"Besides, it's not something you really want to be known for at school, is it?"

Harry cocked his head. "Well..." he said thoughtfully, "if you're known for being good at it..."

Lucius just laughed again. He looked up and smiled, turning Harry around to see the horizon brightening and colors banding across the sky. Together, silently, they watched the sun come up on a new day with a sunrise more brilliantly than either had ever seemed to see before.

"What it comes down to," Lucius said in a hushed voice, still holding Harry in his arms as they watched the brilliant colors fade into the pale blue of morning, "is that we're just beginning. Everything's new, everything's exciting, for both of us. It's something truly special to introduce you to something you've never done before. To know that I'm the first one to ever kiss you, touch you, love you. If we rush, we'll miss the beauty and it will fade away. We'll learn what you like together, but we'll do it one step at a time." His voice got stronger, and more teasing. "Which means we won't be talking about collars and slave boys for a little while longer. Now come on, it's time for breakfast, and they're probably wondering where we are."

Harry spun around and pulled Lucius into a deep kiss. When they finally separated, he nodded. "I agree," he said firmly. "But you never know, I might get tired of all this inching along and decide to jump you one of these days." He headed off towards the edge of the platform where they had entered.

"I thought you already did," Lucius murmured, following him. "After all, where *is* your underwear?"

Before anything more could be said, he grabbed Harry and with a muttered word, they flew back down to the conservatory from which they came.

Harry walked over to where he had left his underpants and shoes, then stood thoughtfully for a moment before concentrating. He smiled as he felt his hands fill. He turned to look at the blonde and grinned. "Next time, it's my turn to touch you," he smirked before throwing his invisibility cloak over his shoulders and disappearing.

TBC...

Press conference next time, promise!


	14. Chapter 36, 37, 38 and 39

Four chapters today because I was determined to get through the press conference. And it's finally done! Yay! Onward to the rest of the summer. And we're about halfway through the story, since there's 80 chapters, and this takes us through 39.

Part 36/?

The day passed in a flurry of plans and talking. Harry spent time practicing his speech and making sure everyone he wanted was going to be there. He also spent a portion of the day evading people who wanted to ask where he'd been the night before.

As the time of the press conference got closer, Harry got more agitated. He started pacing back and forth. When he got to the point he was snapping at his friends, Lucius stepped in. By the time the others were ready to leave, Harry had calmed down amazingly. Ron wondered how the elder Malfoy had managed to calm Harry down when no one else could; the others didn't want to know. In truth they'd just spent the time curled up on the couch together, talking quietly or just sitting there, existing together.

Finally it was time to go. The group of teens gathered together.

"Let's go take over the world," Draco grinned.

"You make it sound so sordid," Hermione complained.

"Live a little, 'Mione," Harry suggested. "We're not trying to take over the world... just remake it a little."

"Time," Blaise warned.

They all reached out to touch the portkey at the same time and felt the pull at their stomach as they disappeared from Malfoy Manor to reappear in Gringotts. The last thing Harry heard before they left was Severus' voice. "Why exactly was Harry out of his room all night?"

Harry was laughing as they reached the room the goblins at Gringotts had set up for his friends to port into. The others looked at him strangely but decided to let it go.

"Neville! Thyme!" Hermione said happily, going over to hug the young couple. "I'm glad you two could make it."

"Of course we came," Neville replied, smiling. He had gained a lot of self-confidence since pairing up with the female Slytherin. "I don't know why we're here, but you called, we came."

"Thank you," Harry said sincerely. "And really I just needed some moral support. I *hate* speaking in front of crowds."

"You'll do fine," Thyme Scarborough said softly.

"Thanks Thyme." Harry smiled back at her. "So? Sibling?"

Thyme sighed. "Yes. A girl."

"I take it by your sigh you weren't able to talk her out of it?" Draco said, almost compassionately.

Thyme shook her head. "We tried everything. Neville spent weeks looking it up, trying to find alternatives, but we were never able to convince her."

"What are you all talking about?" Ron asked, surprised and concerned.

"You don't know?" Hermione was surprised.

Ron shook his red head. "You guys kept talking about it, but you never came right out and said what the problem was. I know it has something to do with names, and that because their last name is Scarborough, that's why she's Thyme and her sister is Rosemary and her brother Sage, but I don't see why!"

"I know it's a Muggle song originally, but I thought it had gotten around to the wizarding world," Harry said thoughtfully. "You and Blaise know it, don't you Drake?"

"I didn't," Draco admitted. "But it got around the Slytherin common room soon after Thyme started attending Hogwarts."

"This is all over a song?" Ron was still confused.

"Not the song, so much as what her mother did because of it," Hermione explained. Quietly she sang, "'Are you going to Scarborough Faire? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.'"

Ron blinked. "Are you telling me your mother named your little sister... That's awful!"

"We agree," everyone else responded at once.

"What are you calling her?" Hermione asked compassionately.

"Ceres," Thyme responded. "It's her middle name."

"That's not bad," Draco said thoughtfully.

"So says the boy named after a dragon," Harry rolled his eyes.

Everyone laughed.

"You notice it's the Slytherins that tend to have the weird names," Ron said slyly.

"At least ours aren't common, like *some* families I could name," Draco struck back.

"Besides," Neville spoke up. "My name is fairly unusual as well. And the rest of the Slytherins have more common names, it's just the uncommon ones that became friends."

"Exactly," the Slytherins answered at once.

Harry looked at the clock. "It's time." He looked around at his friends gathered together in this room. "Thank you all for being here," he said passionately. "You don't know what it means to me."

"You're our friend, Harry. Where else would we be?" Ron asked seriously.

Hermione silently sidled around to the back of the two male Slytherins. "Group hug!" she called out, pushing the two forward into the group. Before anyone knew what was happening, Blaise and Draco were hugging Harry and Ron. It was a race to see who got their hands off the others fastest. Blaise did not want anyone to be able to tell Lucius Malfoy that he'd touched Harry, especially since Draco had gleefully informed him that he had told his father all about the boy's crush. He'd been waiting for his painful death ever since. As for Ron and Draco... quickhounds at their full speed didn't move as fast as those boys trying to get away from each other.

"Let's do this," Harry said, casting his aspect spell and then leading the way out of the room and into the front of the conference room that had been set up for him.

He was glad that waiting for his friends to be seated gave him a few moments to get control of himself. He really did hate being the center of attention when there wasn't a broom between his legs. He took a deep breath, cast 'Sonorus' on his voice and started to speak.

"Witches and Wizards of the press, thank you for coming. As I'm sure you know, my name is Harry James Potter. I called this press conference because I found myself absolutely appalled at an article in 'The Daily Prophet' two days ago.

"In the article it was stated that Mr. Lucius Malfoy had kidnapped me. In the same article, it was stated that I was last seen at Malfoy Manor *at my birthday party*. That right there is proof enough of the pure stupidity of the article. What kind of kidnapper throws a birthday party for the kidnappee? Not only that, but invites people he doesn't even like to the party? Does that make sense to anyone out here?"

He waited for the laughter to die down.

"On top of that, what caught my attention the most, and truthfully bothered me the most, was the fact that I was credited with the defeat of Voldemort. Now I am not denying that I was instrumental in his downfall, but I was certainly not the only one. I was unconscious for more than a week after the Dark Lord's death, and afterward I was too busy to go back and find out what had been said. Can someone please enlighten me? How do you think he died?"

He looked around for an answer, ignoring the surprised expressions of his friends on the front row. This was certainly not what they'd rehearsed, but somehow it seemed right.

A witch in a bright pink robe stood up. "Carla Totter, 'Witch Weekly'" she introduced herself. "According to reports in the 'Daily Prophet', during the Final Battle"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but what Final Battle are you talking about?" Harry asked, confused.

Carla and several other witches and wizards in the room looked surprised at the question. "The Final Battle, where you dueled Voldemort to the death."

Harry was even more confused. "There was no such battle," he explained. "Lucius had to fight several Death Eaters to protect the rest of us, but no one ever actually *fought* that madman."

"We who?" an unknown wizard asked.

"Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape and myself," Harry explained.

The wizard stood up. "Soloman Firesmith, 'Wizard's Sun'. The information we were given stated that the Malfoys and Professor Snape were merely spies but were not involved in the battle themselves."

"Then who did you think was with me?" Harry asked. "Surely you didn't believe I attacked Voldemort and his Death Eaters by myself?"

"The Aurors and your friends?" the wizard suggested.

"The Aurors weren't to be contacted until afterward, for clean up," Harry told him. "I'm not sure when exactly they showed up, being unconscious at the time, but I know they weren't there from the beginning. And there was no way I was going to risk my friends' lives on that mission. They didn't even know it was happening."

"Hey!" Draco protested. "What do you mean, your friends weren't with you?"

Harry smiled at him. "Okay, okay, so one school friend was with me. But I knew what Draco was capable of, and the two of us had been receiving extra training from Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy, for most of the semester. We knew how to work together and what it was possible for us to do together. As wonderful as Ron and Hermione are, and as much as I rely on them every day, I couldn't risk taking them with me that day. They simply didn't have the experience necessary. Of course, neither did I, but that has never been an option, has it?" He looked around at the reporters.

"We figured that the only way to kill Voldemort and make sure he never came back was to bind his soul to his body and then destroy it utterly. Draco and I were researching, trying to find something that would work when we came across another spell. What it did was remove the soul from the body and place it into a special type of gem. The gem could then hold the soul forever, or the soul could be released with another spell, or the soul could be destroyed if the gem was destroyed, which was normally difficult to do. The main problem with the spell was that it required a *lot* of energy. Usually at least a nine by nine linked circle."

The reporters gasped. Circles were the ultimate cooperation. You could only link in a circle with someone you truly trusted. The wizards or witches involved poured their power into the focus, or most powerful wizard of the group, that one did the spell. A nine circle was one of the most powerful, something about the number being significant, adding more people to a circle tended to make it unstable instead of more powerful. A nine by nine circle was a dream. Nine circles, each with a focus; and those focuses linked into a circle of their own. The *ultimate* power.

"We, obviously, didn't have a nine by nine linked circle. What we did have were three mages, one linked to Voldemort by blood and one by power."

Another, larger gasp and a flurry of questions erupted. Mages were as rare, if not rarer than parselmouths. All living things had magic, wizarding and Muggle alike. The difference was simply in the fact that so-called magical people, plants and animals had the ability to actually use the magic that was inside them. A person's ability to use magic depended on both the amount of magic inside of them as well as the size of the channels that allowed them to use that magic. Some had very wide channels that allowed them to use a lot of magic at once but with no endurance, while others had smaller channels that wouldn't allow you to do as much at one time, but would make it last much longer.

Mages however, didn't use just their own energy. Mages could actually pull magic straight from the world around them. They had the ability to use magic from outside their own bodies. Since all living things had magic, all living things radiated it into the space around them, leaving it to settle. Places where many people had lived for a long period of time were steeped in magic, so were places where many people died and all of their magic was released at once.

"It shouldn't surprise anyone to find out that Voldemort was a mage. He killed whole villages not because he hated Muggles, but because he wanted the energy their deaths would create. He got the same amount of power from killing Muggles as he did killing wizards, and not only did they tend to be easier to kill, but no one ever seemed to really care," Harry's voice was hard as he looked around the room.

"I am also a mage. It's why I survived the killing curse in the first place. Instinctively, I grabbed the power of the curse and pulled it into myself. I didn't find out about that until fifth year. Se... Professor Snape, Draco and I had started a conversation on magic and the differences in Muggles and wizards... okay, so Draco and I were fighting over it and Snape intervened when we started annoying him too badly." Chuckles came from all those who had ever had Severus Snape as a Potions teacher. "Draco and the professor found out they were mages when we were found out our animagus forms. You know, there are probably a lot more mages around than people think, but since they've never found their animagus forms, they didn't know it."

"Anyway, once we found that spell we realized that it could work if we could find a way to destroy the gem. And it didn't take much longer to find out that a firedrake's flame would work. Since we had access to that, we figured we were home free. Obviously we weren't."

Part 37/?

Draco was listening to Harry explain what had happened during those frantic months at the beginning of Fifth Year. The three of them had been working so hard that they'd all been using time-turners most of the term just to be able to handle everything. A voice quietly calling his name reminded him of what else he was supposed to have done, but had forgotten. Quickly, he pulled out a small mirror and signaled his apology to the two men glaring at him from beyond it. He turned it so they could watch the speaker.

"That was the longest month of any of our lives. And I mean that literally. Lucius Malfoy was managed to get us three time- turners and we used them... constantly. If we could have waited until summer break it would have been an entirely different matter, but both Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy were convinced that we couldn't take that chance. Voldemort was gearing up for a major assault and we had to deal with him before then.

"Snape and Draco were working on the potion and it had to be stirred every fifteen minutes, without fail, day and night for thirty days. I was working on the outer covering, the amount of power necessary to make that required that a mage do it all, and I was the only one free. Mr. Malfoy wasn't able to come to Hogwarts very often, but he was the one to gather together the potions ingredients as well as the *two hundred carats* of flawless diamonds necessary for my part."

There was a gasp from those listening at that number. Harry grinned at them. "I hear tell that Narcissa Malfoy screamed very loudly and for a very long time when some of her favorite jewelry came up missing." That got a laugh from everyone in the room. "Not to mention they had to be ground into a powder... by hand. Any magic used would react badly to the magic necessary to fuse it into a vessel around the potion Professor Snape and Draco were babying along.

"Once it was finished, Mr. Malfoy sent word to Voldie that there was something Draco would like to tell him about me. They made up some story and managed to get him to call Professor Snape, and I went with him under an Invisibility cloak. We stunned Voldemort and while Mr. Malfoy distracted the few Death Eaters there, the three of us were chanting the spell to transfer his soul into the gem. The main problem was that the Dark Mark allowed Voldemort to pull power to fight us from his Death Eaters, including Snape and Malfoy Sr... if he knew it was happening."

He sighed, with a far away look on his face. "We did it. And then we dropped. The three of us were totally and completely drained. That left Draco's father to get all of us out. Most of the Death Eaters had left as soon as the Dark Mark left their arms, but there were still a couple that

immediately tried to take over, and he had to deal with them as well as get hold of the Aurors and get us back to Hogwarts' Infirmary. He pretty much drained himself by doing all of that

as well." He looked around at all the flabbergasted reporters. "Was that what was reported?"

"Not even close," one whispered, but the silence in the room was so extreme that everyone heard her clearly.

"Truthfully, I didn't even think abut what had been reported until I saw that last article. As I said, the four of us were unconscious for about a week, and by then much of the fervor had dropped. I'm not sure why none of us ever checked on it though. I would have thought at least Mr. Malfoy would have done so."

Draco looked down at where the elder two wizards were looking out from the mirror, only to find them staring at each other. Why hadn't they found out? It would have been the prudent thing to do. "I'm thinking," he whispered quietly, "that we shouldn't have gone back to Hogwarts until *after* we woke up." The older wizards nodded their heads solemnly in agreement. It was starting to look like that would have been the better choice.

"We'll check it out when you get home," Lucius whispered back.

"So where did the papers get their information?" Harry asked.

"Minister Fudge told us what had come up when he interviewed Headmaster Dumbledore, and, we thought, yourselves." Carla Totter said.

"Fudge?" Harry said in disbelief. "I suppose that shouldn't surprise me considering how many other things he's messed up."

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh on the Minister?" an unknown witch asked.

"Who was it that told the papers I had been kidnapped by Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked harshly. "Who was it who refused to believe that Voldemort had returned and spent most of his time after trying to hush up that fact? Who was it that ordered Crouch Jr. to be given the Dementor's Kiss before any information could be gotten from him? Heck, if you go back even further, who made sure my godfather, Sirius Black, was sent to Azkaban without a trial?"

"The evidence..." one wizard started to say.

"Are you saying that twenty years ago there were no truth potions or spells?" Harry interrupted. "The *evidence* was all hearsay. All it would have taken was one simple question while under the influence of a truth spell of some sort. All that would have been necessary was for someone to ask if he had been my parents Secret Keeper. Yet nobody bothered to ask. Excuse me if I find something inherently wrong in an innocent man being sent to prison, especially such a prison as Azkaban, without even a simple trial. Even Muggles don't do that! And they don't have ways of making sure someone is telling the truth. We do!"

"Maybe all of you know the minister better than I do. Maybe you've seen him make correct decisions, decisions made for the good of the whole wizarding world, instead of bettering his own position. Maybe you've seen it. I haven't. The only thing I've seen is a self-aggrandizing blowhard who cares far more for his own power and position than the good of the world he's supposed to govern and protect." He turned to the wizard who'd spoken up before. "Have you?"

The wizard opened his mouth and nothing came out. He looked surprised over his inability to speak and the others looked around at him.

"Sorry about that," Harry said, "but there's a truth spell over the whole room. No one's allowed to lie here. Would you like to rethink your answer?"

The wizard glared but his mouth stayed shut.

Harry turned to the witch who said he was being too harsh. "What about you? Is Fudge doing a good job as Minister of Magic?"

She opened her mouth importantly and seemed shocked that nothing came out.

"The thing is," Harry said thoughtfully, starting to pace across the front of the room, "I don't believe that he's the only problem in the Ministry. How could he climb so high and stay Minister so long without a Ministry that's got major problems behind him?"

Hermione had warned him never to come right out and say that the Ministry was corrupt, just like he already knew better than to say anything about Dumbledore being a part of the problem.

In fact...

"I mean, even *Dumbledore* tried to convince him that Voldemort was back and he still wouldn't believe it. Or at least he wouldn't *admit* he believed it. He was told by me, he was told by Dumbledore, he was shown the *Dark Mark* by Professor Snape and he had the chance to find out about the whole plot from Crouch. Instead, he ignored or discounted it all and made sure Crouch couldn't tell anyone anything. There is no good excuse for that.

"I know, I know," he held up his hand before anyone could say anything. "I'm making it sound as if he did it all on purpose, and no, I have no proof that that's true. Of course, if he'd like to come debate it with me, I'd be glad to ask him myself."

Draco looked down as he heard laughter coming from the mirror he was holding. His father said, "You couldn't ask for a better entrance line than that, now could you?" He frowned, not understanding what the older wizard was up to as he watched his father mutter a key word. He looked up, understanding suddenly as a pop sounded throughout the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fudge roared, from where he'd appeared at the front of the room.

Part 38/?

"Well, this is a surprise," Harry said blankly, and everyone in the room could tell that to him it was. "We were just talking about you."

Fudge looked at the person who was talking. "Mr. Potter," he smiled ingratiatingly. His mouth opened and nothing came out. There were titters from the audience as his mouth kept moving, not seeming to notice he was simply blowing out hot air. Then again, did he ever do anything else?

Draco suddenly had an idea. He jumped to his feet and quickly cast a deafening charm on the Minister. He looked around at the audience of reporters. "Since this room is full of reporters, surely someone has either a spell or object that allows you to know what someone is saying if you can't hear him? I'm not talking about a spell to make you hear something far away, instead I'm looking for something that can read lips."

One witch reluctantly stood up. "I have a quill that will do that," she admitted.

"Can you charm it to write on air?" he asked intently. "Say, over someone's head?"

Suddenly she seemed to realize why he wanted it. "You want me to put it over Fudge's head so that when he tries to lie it will write what lie he tried to speak?"

"Correct," Draco grinned.

The witch smiled her understanding and quickly did as asked. Seconds later there was a floating pen above the Minister's head, writing down his ranting and raving, asking what was going on, and what were all those people doing here.

Draco removed the deafening charm and settled back down into his seat.

Harry smiled at the Minister. "Hello, Minister Fudge. This is a press conference to try to contradict that article you precipitated in 'The Daily Prophet' yesterday. While we were talking, however, your name kept coming up, and I believe there are some questions the people in this room would like to have answered. I'm going to start, if no one has any objections. I simply have two questions. Number one, have you ever knowingly done something to support Voldemort?"

"How dare you ask me something like that?" Fudge roared.

Harry ignored him and turned to look at the reporters around him. "You'll notice he didn't actually answer the question." He turned back to the Minister. "I'll ask you again, have you ever

knowingly done something to support Voldemort?" That question had been carefully thought out, thanks to Hermione and Draco mostly. It thwarted any defense Fudge might come up with if they'd just asked if he had ever supported Voldemort. He might have been able to say later that he hadn't done it willingly or knowingly, so they were working to cut that off immediately. Of course, if his answer was really no, which was very unlikely Harry's next question would probably be whether Fudge was an idiot, something the others didn't exactly approve of. Luckily it didn't seem like that was likely, or the man would have answered by now.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked.

Fudge's mouth moved and everyone's eyes moved up above him to watch as the damning words "No, of course not," were written above him.

"Did you ever willingly support Voldemort?" Harry dug deeper.

Fudge glared. "I believe I told you no," he said angrily.

"Believe what you wish, you still have not answered the question," Harry said in a hard voice. "All I want is a yes or no, did you ever willingly support Voldemort?"

"Mr. Potter, whatever you are insinuating is"

He was interrupted by the wizard who had almost stood up for him earlier. "Minister, please answer the question."

Fudge turned to see all of the reporters staring at him and immediately put on his public face. This time, finally, he seemed to realize that something was wrong, even as the pen wrote out over his head, "No, I have never willingly supported Voldemort."

"Why wasn't I speaking?" he said, almost surprised to hear the words coming out of his mouth.

"There's a spell upon this room," Harry explained, stretching the truth a little, since he didn't want to explain that the spell was on him more than the room. "No one may tell a lie in here."

"That's illegal!" Fudge shouted. "I didn't approve of this!"

"I'm sorry, Minister, but I checked the rules myself, and then had Lu... Mr. Malfoy, check as well. There are rules against using spells to force someone to speak the truth, but none against spells that just forbid someone to tell a lie. If you don't want to answer, there is no one or nothing making you answer, but if you do answer and you want words to actually come out of your mouth, you must speak the truth."

He turned to face the reporters. "Please feel free to ask the Minister any questions you might happen to have. However, because of the way this spell works, you are far more likely to get coherent answers if you ask only yes or no questions, that way there is only one truth and only one lie." He pointed to one witch who was waving her hand in the air.

"Minister Fudge, did you make any laws specifically for You- Know-Who?" she asked breathlessly.

It took a moment, but he finally said "No". Everyone looked surprised.

Harry sighed. "Minister Fudge, did you make any laws specifically for Voldemort or Tom Riddle?"

Fudge opened his mouth, but nothing would come out and "no" was written in tall letters above his head.

Harry looked at the reporters again. "You've got to be specific, and that means either using Voldemort, Tom Riddle, or both. You-Know-Who could be anyone, as could He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the Dark Lord."

Fudge glared at him. "I do not have to stand here and take this insubordination!" he yelled.

"None of these people work for you. At least I would hope not. Therefore we're not being insubordinate, or treasonous, but only getting the truth from an elected official, as is our right as human beings." Hermione stood up to say.

Fudge drew himself up. "I am the Minister of Magic."

"But you're not God... any of them actually," Blaise spoke up.

"I can have you all sent to Azkaban for this!"

"Well, that's interesting," Draco murmured loud enough for others to hear. "He managed to say that. Which means he believes it to be true. Makes you wonder how many *other* people he's sent off to Azkaban just for disagreeing with him, doesn't it?"

Mutters were coming from all sides of the room by this point. Draco took a look down at the mirror he had been holding to find it empty. He had the feeling he knew where the two wizards were going. Or should that be coming?

"Can he?" one witch said in a trembling voice.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said comfortingly. "He might be able to make one or two people disappear, but twenty-five reporters, from as many different papers? Not to mention me and my friends? That's beyond even his scope, I believe."

"Do you indeed?" Fudge snapped. He pressed the pin on the lapel of his robes and the room started filling up with Aurors. "Arrest them all!" he ordered.

The door at the front of the room burst open as Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape strode in as if they owned the place.

"I want to be able to do that," Draco whined quietly to his friends.

"Maybe when you grow up," Blaise said mock-comfortingly.

Draco's mature response was to stick out his tongue. After, of course, making sure none of the reporters or Weasley and Granger could see him. Appearances were everything after all.

"Arrest them as well," Fudge ordered, pointing to the two men, especially the one who always seemed to show him up. He was his boss! Malfoy had no right to look better than him or to command more respect than him.

Lucius stood at the front of the room, keeping all attention upon himself as Severus strode towards the boys. "What do you think you're doing Fudge?" Lucius purred.

Harry hadn't removed his eyes from his lover since he had come in and the jade green darkened as he heard that tone of voice.

Fudge seemed to have forgotten everything but the man in front of him. "You're going away," he growled. "So far away that no one will ever hear from you again. Perhaps, considering your past, the Kiss might be the best choice for you."

Cries of anger and denial came from most of the reporters. There had been times they had hated Malfoy Sr. and times that they had feared him, but he *was* a hero of the fight against Voldemort, Harry Potter had told them so.

Suddenly, power was felt. Everyone who felt it turned to where Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape were standing, to find them with their wands upraised and touching at the tips. In a voice so synchronized as to be impossible to tell one from the other, they spoke. "Immobulus!"

Everyone froze.

The immobilizing spell had been carefully chosen. It did not completely stun people so they didn't know what was happening around them, or bind them so tightly that not a muscle could move. Instead, it just kept them still. Their mouths could still move and they could still comprehend what was going on around them, but they were, one and all, made effectively harmless.

Harry moved to the head of the Aurors. "Are you loyal to Fudge or the wizarding world?"

"The wizarding world," the Auror said immediately. "Why are you doing this, Mr. Potter?"

"How about because Fudge admitted, in front of everyone here, most of whom are reporters, that he was a Voldemort supporter? Then threatened to send us all to Azkaban without benefit of a trial. He seemed pretty sure it could be done, as well."

"Perhaps you misheard?" the Auror asked.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "No one in this room is currently able to tell a lie. Let me figure out who can be trusted, and then I'll show you what I mean." Harry walked to each of the Aurors in turn, asking them the same question he had asked the leader. He could see the head Auror's anger as almost a fourth of them were unable to admit that loyalty to the wizarding world was more important than loyalty to the Minister. Normally such loyalty wouldn't matter, it was understood that loyalty to one was loyalty to the other. However, if Potter was correct about Fudge's allegiances they had been serving the wrong person all this time.

Harry looked over at the immobile Fudge. "This would be a lot easier if we could give him Veritaserum," he muttered.

"Why can't you?" the Auror asked. "With what you have already found out, all you would need would be two high ranking Ministry officials, and I believe one came in with you."

"And my dad can be the other," Ron suggested.

"Good choice," Draco admitted. "Considering how our dads feel about each other, there would be no hint of collusion between the two of them."

"How so?" one witch said. "You two seem to get on well enough." The glares coming from the two boys were hot enough to melt steel. "Or not," she whispered. She would have drawn back if she'd been physically able.

"Be nice," Thyme warned them.

"Or what?" Draco said sneeringly.

"Or we'll lock the two of you in a room together for a week," Neville answered in a hard voice. Everyone who could look at him did, all with shocked looks on their faces. Thyme just smiled happily.

"Unfortunately," Lucius spoke up. "We are not able to give the Minister Veritaserum here and now. It's against the law to do it in a public place such as this. Especially with someone so high-ranking, who might have important secrets beyond Voldemort."

Harry nodded his understanding and turned back to the head Auror. "Can you put him under arrest and stick him into a cell somewhere until Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley can deal with him?" he asked.

"We most certainly can," the Auror agreed without hesitation.

Harry reached out and touched him, freeing him from the spell. One by one, he and Draco reaffirmed the loyalty of the Aurors that had not admitted loyalty to Fudge and freed them. They took the others and with Fudge and Lucius in tow, left the room.

"Well," said Harry as they freed the reporters and his friends, "That wasn't quite what I was expecting."

Several reporters laughed, and there wasn't more than a touch of hysteria in it either.

Part 39/?

"Since we're not going to get any more answers from that source for awhile, any questions?" he asked, waving up a chair so he could sit down. It seemed things kept being a surprise, but on the whole it was going as it should. Taking over the world was tiring though. He was glad he could let Lucius have it when he was done.

"Mr. Potter, do you know how the Minister got here at just the perfect time?" a witch in turquoise asked.

"Do I *know*? No, I don't. Can I make a good guess? Yes. If I had to guess, I believe Mr. Malfoy and the Professor there had something to do with it," he nodded towards his Potions professor.

"Are you telling me, Mr. Potter, that you are capable of making an educated guess?" Severus' voice was cutting, but it didn't seem to bother the recipient at all. "It is not an ability you have ever seemed to use in your schoolwork, after all."

Harry pouted. "I do too, I just don't ever use it in Potions, because then you'll get on to me about experimenting above my competency level. Which," he admitted to the reporters watching, "isn't really that high when it comes to Potions. I did get a compliment from him about it once though. He told me that I wasn't a complete incompetent moron. Wasn't that nice of him?"

"I am *not* nice," Severus growled.

Everyone laughed once again, the younger ones a little more nervously than those who had never had Snape as a professor.

"Mr. Snape," one said from the middle of the pack. "How did it happen?"

"To what, exactly, are you referring, Mr. Torenze? How did you pass my class perhaps? That is something that I wondered myself at times. How did Potter show himself to be of some slight competency? I was as surprised as you. How did we destroy Voldemort? I believe Potter has explained it, to the best of his limited ability at any rate. How did we make sure Fudge showed up at that exact moment? You would have to ask Lucius, I believe it had something to do with their high Ministry positions."

"Mr. Potter," a witch stood up and smiled. "How was your birthday party?"

Harry smiled. "It was wonderful. Because of worry about Voldemort, I had never had any of my friends around during my birthday since I started Hogwarts." And he'd never had any friends to have around before then was what he carefully didn't say. "And to be able to have the important people together, especially on my sixteenth was unbelievable."

"Mr. Potter," an older wizard stood up. "It had been my understanding that you and young Mr. Malfoy were enemies. Professor Snape and yourself did not seem to get on well enough to work together either. How did all that change?"

"Detentions," Harry groaned. "Lots and lots of detentions. Draco was working as Snape's apprentice, and if the Headmaster had not demanded the professor's presence at Hogwarts this summer, he'd be working with him now as he did last summer. After about the third detention we actually started talking. It didn't take much of that to realize that we'd both been living with preconceptions of each other that didn't have much basis in truth. As for Snape..." he looked at the glaring professor and then just grinned at the reporters. "Wishing to keep from becoming a guinea pig for new potions requires that I don't answer that question."

Chuckles abounded once more.

Another wizard stood up. "Did you know when coming here what was going to happen with Fudge?"

"Did I *know*?" Harry said thoughtfully. "No. I had, however, considered the possibility, even hoped for it. It has been obvious for a while that there was something wrong with the way Fudge was running the Ministry and the war. I've been wanting to ask him if he was working for Voldemort, but never had a chance. I didn't expect Mr. Malfoy to find a way to send him here. I expected to either have him come storming in demanding to know where I had been and what I had been doing, or to have to ask him for a debate. I set the truth spell as a just-in-case."

A witch dressed in pepto-bismal pink stood up. "Mr. Potter? Do you have a ... special someone?"

Everyone turned to look at her. Harry blinked in confusion. Where had that question come from? He realized she was waiting for an answer. "Umm... I don't know what that has to do with what we're talking about, but yes I do, and that's all I'm going to say about it."

She opened her mouth but he held up his hand before she could say anything. "That's *all* I'm going to say," he reiterated. She nodded her acceptance and sat back down.

Another witch, dressed much more conservatively in dark blue, stood. "Mr. Weasley, do you believe that your father will take over the Ministry now that Fudge is going to be taken down?"

Ron stood up. "No, ma'am, I don't. When it was brought up that Fudge might be impeached, since we were not assuming he would be arrested, I thought the same thing. However, after talking with both Harry and my father, I realized that it is not something my father truly wants. I might wish it for him, but he doesn't wish it for himself."

"So, who do you see in that job?" the witch asked.

Ron opened his mouth and then closed it, not being caught in a lie, but simply not wanting to say what he knows to be the truth. He sighed. "Malfoy," he finally said, dragging the word out.

"You don't seem too happy with that thought," the witch prodded.

"Heh. I'm not." Ron admitted easily. "Doesn't mean it's not true. I'm never going to be real friends with either of the Malfoys. Harry, however, trusts them, and I trust him. I do think Malfoy could do the job, *and* keep it from becoming a ... well, a witch hunt. There are a lot of changes that need to be made, I admit. I think Malfoy is..." he almost pouted, he didn't want to say this. "Capable of doing what is necessary. Even my father had to admit that... well, kind of."

"Kind of?" the witch asked.

"We were testing the truth spell," Harry explained for his friend. "When we asked Mr. Weasley if he wanted the job he couldn't say he did, and finally admitted he didn't. He doesn't *want* Malfoy as Minister, but he was unable to say that he wouldn't do a good job."

"Have you talked with Malfoy about the position?" another asked.

"Yes, I have," Harry admitted. "I told him I would support him, with the understanding that there were certain changes I thought were necessary."

"You are only a teenager," one wizard said, hiding behind his fellow reporters.

"Yes, I am," Harry looked around. "And if a teenager can see there are certain things wrong, the rest of the wizarding world should be able to see it as well."

"You're just being selfish," Blaise taunted.

"He is not!" Ron retorted immediately. "Just because the changes he wants could help or could have helped his godfather and Professor Lupin, doesn't make him selfish."

"I think they're simply common sense," Hermione informed them all.

"You would," Ron groaned.

"You disagree?" Harry asked.

"No," Ron conceded. "You're right, it's just"

Harry interrupted. "You might want to think about what you're thinking of saying," Harry knew if Ron continued with what he had been thinking, he and Hermione would end up in a terrific row, and that would be catastrophic for their relationship since they were in the middle of several dozen reporters. Fights like that should be in private.

Ron looked at him. "That made no sense, mate."

"It meant, shut your mouth before you say something your girl will make sure you regret," Draco told him.

"Hey, he insulted me, aren't you going to hit him?" Ron whined.

"That wasn't an insult, it was just a statement of fact," Thyme informed him.

"You're acting like a prat, Ron," Hermione whispered. "Settle down!"

"Are they always like this?" one witch asked, interested.

Harry chuckled. "I think they toned it down a little because of all the strangers around," he answered easily. "But gatherings of the group of us can get very... interesting."

"Especially for anyone who happens to walk in unexpectedly," Snape muttered sourly.

Every teenager in the room burst out laughing. They remembered that incident at least as well as he did.

Harry looked at the reporters once he calmed down. "Any other questions, before they really get started?"

"What are the changes that they were talking about?" one wizard inquired.

"There are a lot of changes I, personally, think should be made, but right now I'm mainly interested in two," Harry admitted. "First, that no sentient being can be discriminated against as long as they don't harm humans. For instance, Remus Lupin, who became a were-wolf through no fault of his own and takes steps to make sure he doesn't harm anyone. He either locks himself away, or now there's the Wolfsbane potion. He's never hurt a soul, and yet he's discriminated against, not just by people, but by the laws themselves. He's not allowed to get married, have kids, has a hard time getting a job and if someone killed him, it wouldn't even be considered murder! Now considering he is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever met, not to mention the best DADA professor we ever had... that's just wrong. And don't try to tell me he's a Dark creature, you've never even met the man!"

"The second thing is that *no* *one* can be sent to Azkaban or any other prison, or have anything like that happen to them without a trial. We have truth potions, we have truth spells, there is absolutely no reason innocent people should be sent to jail, when it's so simple to prove that they didn't do it! You all should realize that! If Fudge had gotten his way, the whole lot of us would have been taken to Azkaban, and there wouldn't have been a single thing we could do about it.

"And yes, maybe I am being selfish. If laws like this had been in place fifteen years ago, my godfather would never have spent twelve years in prison. Pettigrew might not have been around to resurrect Voldemort, Remus wouldn't be worrying about where his next meal was coming from."

There were people nodding their heads all around the room. That made sense, and it was good that he was trying to take care of his friends.

Harry stood up. "Well, if there aren't any more important questions, it's time to head off. You all need to get those stories out before someone scoops you, don't you think?" He smirked as over half of the group started racing towards the door. He gathered up his friends and teacher and together they headed towards the room they had arrived in. As soon as they were alone he dropped to the floor and rested his head on his knees.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked softly as he kneeled next to the boy.

"Can I not do that again anytime soon?" Harry whined.

"You did wonderfully," Hermione told him from his other side.

"Thanks, but I hate talking in front of people like that," he said feelingly.

"You couldn't tell," Draco comforted. "You looked as if it was something you did everyday. Went a little off the script though."

"It just seemed to work better that way." Harry explained. "Besides, I hadn't realized how much wrong information Dumbledore gave away." He looked around. "Why didn't any of you ever tell me?"

"You never wanted to talk about what happened, remember?" Ron said. "We tried once or twice, but after getting snarled at a couple of times, we gave up on it, figured it must have been really bad to get you that way and you would find us if necessary."

"A ban?" Harry asked thoughtfully, looking up at his father figure.

"Perhaps," Snape contemplated. "It would explain why not even Lucius seemed to care what was being told. Considering it was his reputation, among others, that was very unlikely."

"Maybe set to fade away after a certain amount of time, enough time that most people wouldn't ask questions about it anymore?" Draco wondered.

"That doesn't make much sense," Hermione put in. "Since they weren't allowed to talk to Harry while he was at Hogwarts, they'd be more likely to try to reach him over summer break."

"Yes, but I didn't usually have anything to do with the wizarding world over summer," Harry reminded her. "Normally I'd stay locked up in my room all summer."

"Not to mention that what happened at Hogsmeade was also likely to push you completely away from the wizarding world. You wouldn't want to risk that again," Snape considered.

"Yes, but that couldn't be foreseen," Blaise pointed out.

"As far as we know, anyway," Draco said slowly.

"Are all Slytherins as paranoid as you lot?" Ron complained.

"It's part of their charm," Neville told him quietly.

Harry laughed slightly and stood up, looking better. "I want to thank you all for being here," he said quietly. "It really meant a lot to me, and I couldn't have done it without your support."

"Where else would we be?" Hermione said softly.

Hugs were given all around as were promises of owling or seeing each other soon. Finally, Harry, Severus and Draco used Harry and Draco's emblem portkeys to take all three of them back to Malfoy Manor.

Harry looked around. "Is Lucius home yet, do you think? I could use a cuddle."

"I seriously doubt it," Draco told him. "He's probably going to be busy for a while dealing with the mess with Fudge you just gave him."

Harry pouted. "That sucks. I should have given the world to someone else."


	15. Chapter 40, 41 and 42

I thought about not leaving it here, but then I thought... why not grin. I gave you four chapters last time after all, can't have you getting spoiled ^_^.

Part 40/?

The three of them had a pleasant dinner together, marred only by the fact that it was only the three of them. Harry waited up until midnight, but Lucius didn't return.

Harry was getting worried. What if something had happened? Perhaps Fudge had cronies that had taken him away from the Aurors. Perhaps someone had violently disagreed with what was happening. How was he to know? He would have called him on the mirror, but, as he found out, you had to know not only the call sign of the mirror you were trying for, but also the place on the big mirror where it had been linked. He thought of getting Draco up to call for him, but finally decided to go to bed.

The next morning at breakfast, there were still only the three of them. He brought up his thoughts to the other two, but they weren't worried.

"He gets caught up in his job sometimes," Draco passed it off. To pacify the worried boy, he called one of the house elves who reported that Mr. Malfoy had come in around one o'clock that morning and left again at six..

Draco and Harry spent most of the day in a shielded workroom with their teacher. Draco was working on a new potion while Harry was working on the memory charm that Lucius had told him about. The Slytherins had complained for a bit about him knowing Sacred Slytherin Secrets, but added some other charms they thought he should know from that stash.

When Dictating Quills came up, Harry wondered if there was a way to make one write only the truth. After all, there were ones that could write lies, read lips, write on air, why not write the truth? Severus thought it was an interesting proposition, and promptly made it an assignment for the two students. He told them also to think of making a book or parchment in which only truth could be written, which would be more marketable for such things as account ledgers or history books, or even reports from employees to their bosses.

"Newspapers," Harry sighed. "Can you just imagine if newspapers were written on paper like that?"

"Quit dreaming," Draco laughed. "If newspapers told only the truth, they might go out of business."

The day went by fast and it wasn't until dinner they had any free time to look at the assorted papers and magazines that had been delivered over the course of the day. Half of the papers dealt mainly with the truth behind the defeat of Voldemort, while the other half was more concerned with the repercussions of the Minister of Magic being a Voldemort supporter and what that meant for the wizarding world as a whole. A couple were more interested in the fact that Harry had a significant other and wouldn't tell anyone who it was.

By the time Harry went to bed at 1:00, there were still no signs of Lucius.

The next few days followed the same pattern. Not once was Lucius seen, always getting in early in the morning and leaving after only a few hours. If it hadn't been for the papers, they would have had no idea of what was happening. He was now acting Minister, and would stay that way until a vote could be called, sometime in the next month. He had already started the changes, going through every ministry office, assuring loyalty and checking on bureaucratic management. Although it was what Harry had wanted, he was finding that the reality of his lover having the job was far from what he'd expected.

Draco and Severus noticed he was getting quieter and more depressed as the days went by and tried their best to cheer him up or at least get his mind off of it.

"We've got to do something," Draco's voice carried easily through the door to where Harry was standing.

"And what exactly do you suggest?" Snape's voice also penetrated well.

"Go beat up my father?" Draco suggested. "He deserves it."

"While I certainly agree with that sentiment, I'm not sure that is the best solution to the problem," Severus' voice was dry.

"Then what is?" Draco snapped. "I brought Harry here because he let it slip he'd been considering suicide! And now he's getting all depressed again!"

"He was WHAT?" Severus roared.

"Thinking about killing himself," Draco reiterated. "It was after Hogsmeade and being told he'd have to go back to his relatives for the summer. And we didn't even notice how depressed he was getting!"

"Why didn't he tell me?" Severus growled, angry and hurt.

"Because you were busy," Draco explained.

"Busy? I am *never* too busy for him! Never!"

Harry dropped his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself. He hadn't meant to hurt Severus' feelings, it had just seemed like the right thing at the time. It seemed like he couldn't do anything right lately.

Lucius' disappearing as he did meant only one of two things for the hurting youth. Either he'd now gotten what he wanted from him and was giving him a gentle kiss-off, or he, Harry, really sucked at the sex stuff, and he was giving him the kiss-off. Those were the only two reasons he could think of, and both hurt, badly.

Harry walked into the room. One look at his face showed that he had heard everything. Severus strode forward immediately.

"You stupid *stupid* boy!" He grabbed Harry's shoulders and shook them sharply. "How could you have ever *thought* about something like that?" He pulled him into a desperate hug. "How could you ever think of leaving me like that? Not to mention all of your other friends?" He pulled back to look him in the face again. "You can *always* come to me. I thought you knew that."

"I did know that, Severus. I do. Really. I just... I knew how unhappy you were because of what Dumbledore was pulling and I didn't want you to feel any worse." Harry said softly.

"And you don't think finding you dead some morning from your own hand might not have hurt me far worse?" Severus asked.

"But I didn't!" Harry found himself starting to get mad. "I *handled* it! When I found myself thinking about just letting go and falling while flying, I stopped flying. I never went any farther than that. And when it really got bad... I'd go find you." He looked up, with tears in his eyes he refused to let fall. "Do you remember when I'd just show up in your rooms and curl up into my favorite chair? I didn't say anything, I didn't need to, just being there, knowing you cared. It was enough."

"You still should have talked to me," Severus said softly. "You do know that you can always talk to me about anything, don't you?"

"Yes, Sev, I do. Truly." He hugged the older man hard and stood there for a long moment, basking in the feeling of being held by someone who really cared for him. It was a different feeling from being held in Lucius' arms, no frisson of arousal or attraction, just a warm, safe feeling of home.

Draco just smiled as he watched. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought

He was thinking differently six hours later. "Why does he need you back at Hogwarts now?" Draco was raging.

"I've been here a week," Severus reminded him. "That was all the time Dumbledore gave me."

"But we need you here!"

"Draco," Harry said softly. "It's okay, it really is. I've already promised I'm not going to do anything to hurt myself. Honestly I don't want to. I'm hurt, I'm unhappy, and truth is, I'm kinda pissed, but I'm not really depressed. We'll see Sev in three weeks when we go back to school."

"I can still say I'm unhappy about this, can't I?" Draco growled.

"Oh, yeah," Harry agreed immediately. "I'm not exactly happy with it myself. I want to spend more time with him. You got to spend the entire last summer with him, and I don't get any extra time," he pouted. "And he's my father figure!"

The rest of the night was spent quietly talking. Finally, after dinner, Severus had to leave. Harry promised to owl often, as did Draco.

After he left, the two boys sat back down. "Draco, I know you're worried about me, but there's no reason to be. I told you before, that being Jade helps, that's still true. There is one thing you could do for me though."

"What's that?" Draco asked.

"Get me into your father's room, tonight," Harry told him. "I need to talk to him, and that seems to be the only place he can be found lately."

"Ooh," Draco leered. "Just talk?"

"Yes, Draco, just talk. Well, unless he has a really good reason for the way he's been acting."

"What if he doesn't?" Draco asked seriously.

Harry stood up. "Then I'll be leaving in the morning," he answered softly, before walking out of the room.

Draco stood up and headed towards the mirror when Harry stuck his head back in. "Oh, and please don't talk to him about it. I want honest reactions, not forewarned."

Seven o'clock the next morning, Draco headed over to his father's room and peeked in. Empty. Was that a good or bad thing? He moved over to Harry's room, and quickly found out the truth; it was a bad thing. Harry was packing.

"What did he say?" Draco asked softly.

"Nothing," Harry growled. "He never showed up." He put the last of Jade's clothes in his hold-all, and stood staring at his jewelry box.

"Maybe he got held up," Draco suggested.

"I'm sure he did, every night this week," Harry said savagely. He turned to look at Draco, a little sad, a lot angry. "If he wanted me gone, he only had to say so. This ignoring me until I got the picture sucks."

"I'm sure that's not what he's doing," Draco tried to explain his father's behavior although he didn't really understand it himself. "You don't really have to leave, do you?"

Harry nodded slightly. "I can't stay here if he doesn't want me here. I'm sorry."

"I want you here," Draco told him.

"I know," Harry said softly. "But *he's* got to want me here too, and I don't think he does."

"Yes, he does. You two are meant to be together, I could see it, Severus could see it, you and Lucius could see it."

"After three years with Trelawny, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that *seeing* means nothing. Only the truth of what happens. And the truth is that once Lucius got what he wanted he dropped me like I turned into a blast-ended newt."

"That's not what happened," Draco argued. "My father wouldn't do that to you."

"I wish I could believe that," Harry whispered.

"Look, let me call him and get him here so you can talk," Draco suggested.

"If he wants to see me and explain, then he'll have to find me," Harry argued. "I'm not going to hide, I'll carry my emblem portkey with me for a week. If he hasn't shown up by then, I'll send it back. You, don't do anything, don't tell him I'm gone, don't even give him any hints, nothing. I want to know how long it takes him to figure out I'm gone. I'm going to see if I can stay with Jeri."

Draco nodded. "If he doesn't, I'm going to make his life a living hell," he said dangerously.

"Go for it bro," Harry smiled for the first time that day.

"Take the jewelry, it belongs to you," Draco told him. "And you'd better owl, every day. Will you be able to come back to work on the TiP stuff?"

"TiP?"

"I thought we could call it Truth-in-Print publications. If we ever get it to work that is."

Harry nodded. "I'll figure something out, if possible. It might have to wait until we go back to Hogwarts though. It all depends."

Draco wrapped him up in a hug. "Be careful," he whispered. "Remember you've got friends here and you'd *better* come back if you need to."

"I will," Harry murmured. "I promise."

Fifteen minutes, he was gone and Draco was left alone in Malfoy Manor.

Part 41/?

Jade stood looking into a mirror. "Are you sure about this, Jeri?" she asked.

"Have I ever steered you wrong?" Jeri asked softly. "You need to get out and have some fun. I'm not going to let you mope around here like you have been the last three days. That jerk obviously isn't worth it."

"But this?" Jade's voice was strangled and her eyes had never left the mirror's image.

"What's wrong with it?" Jeri asked.

"How about the fact that there's nothing to it?" Jade squeaked.

Technically that wasn't true. The dress was high collared, sleeveless and mid-thigh length. Shorter than she usually wore, true, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was the cutouts. One diamond shaped cutout reaching from the hollow of her neck to the top of her cleavage. A larger one from the bottom of her sternum to just under her bellybutton and the largest one on her back, leaving most of it bare from her shoulders down to the small of her back. Makeup had been used to cover up the scar across her back.

"Surely you've worn less?" Jeri smirked.

"Well, yeah, but not out in public!"

"Hey, you've got the body, you might as well flaunt it. Trust me, girl, where we're going, that's positively tame."

Jade shook her head and tried to figure out how she'd come to this point. Being with Jeri and her friends was much different from living at Malfoy Manor. There, even though he dressed like a girl, he was still a boy named Harry. Not here. Here, even though he was a boy, he was treated at all times as a girl named Jade. He'd spent time with the girls before, quite a lot of it in fact, but found it was different living with them, instead of just meeting them for a few hours a day.

Right now he... she was Jade, and that's just the way she liked it. What she wasn't sure she liked was this dress.

"Besides," she muttered. "I haven't been moping around. None of you would let me." Was that ever true. She'd been to the cinema more times in the last three days than in her entire life before it. Which, admittedly said more about her life than the number of times she'd gone to the movies in the last three days. She'd also been *forced* to spend a great deal of time both shopping and at the mall. Somehow she had survived.

"True," Jeri answered easily. "But do you blame us? Besides, you've been a lot calmer than you were when you got here."

Jade nodded and turned to look at her friend. "I don't think I realized just how stressed out I was getting. The last week had just been..."

"Awful?" Jeri prodded.

"No..." Jade answered. "Not really. I mean, most things turned out way better than I had expected. It was just... stressful. Having Lucius find out and talking about my life and becoming his boyfriend... Severus walking in on our first kiss and then finding out about Lucius and Jade... Ron and Hermione and Blaise all finding out, at least about Jade... Ginny finding out and completely flipping out... my first ever sexual experience... Fudge and the press conference. It all turned out well, but it was just so much at once. Really, you know, that all happened in a three day period. And after that I had to worry about what was going on with Lucius. These last couple of days at your place, with you and the girls, I've finally had a chance to destress. Which is *not* moping."

"If you say so," Jeri muttered.

"I do." Jade said firmly.

It had actually taken her a few days to figure all of that out, but once she did she couldn't understand why she hadn't figured it out before. If nothing else, she had made a decision. If Lucius didn't come to his senses, then she was going to see about moving to the Muggle world full time as soon as she graduated. Well, maybe not *entirely* in the Muggle world. The only thing she disliked as a gryphon was the fact that she could only fly in uninhabited or used to magical animals regions. Sometimes she really wished she was an owl or a more common type of bird. She was not going to give up flying.

"You know, I'm jealous," Jeri changed the subject.

"Jealous? Why?" Jade asked, surprised.

"Hey, I saw you while you were getting changed, those wizarding prosthetics are good. I couldn't even tell they weren't real."

Jade smiled secretively. "That's because they are."

"Are what?" Jeri asked suspiciously.

"Are real, of course," Jade smiled. "You're not very observant are you? I've been a true girl for over twenty-four hours now."

"You... what?" Jeri screeched. "Harry James Potter, what have you done?"

Jade stared at her friend in shock. Not once since she had decided on the name Jade had Jeri called her anything else, especially not her male name. And why was she so angry? "What do you mean?"

"I know you're hurting, but how could you make a decision like that so quickly? Have you thought about this at all? What, do you think that now you're female all of your problems will go away? What were you thinking?" Jeri's voice was high and shrill.

Jade... laughed.

"I don't see what's so funny!" Jeri yelled.

Jade brought herself under control. "I'm sorry, but it was funny. It was my own fault, I knew that it was in there but I just forgot."

"What are you talking about?" Jeri started to calm down.

"For my birthday, one of the things I got was a collection of the newest tricks Fred and George Weasley had created. I'd been warned that one of them would change your gender for forty-eight hours, but I forgot and when I was going through my presents... well, as you can see. I wouldn't do something like that on purpose you know. This might be interesting, but my center of balance is all wrong, I prefer it when my breasts can come off, because they're a pain when I'm sleeping, and I *really* miss my cock!" Jade ended with a glare down at where that particular body part should be.

Jeri sighed in relief. "I thought you had done something *really* stupid," she murmured.

"I did. I tested something from the twins without being sure what it was first," Jade admitted. "At least it gave me something else to think about."

"And going out tonight will help," Jeri pounced. She was planning on talking more about it more later, but she'd been trying to get Jade to agree to go out that night for the past two hours and she wasn't going to give up the good entrance line.

"I am not going out in this!" Jade took the change of subject eagerly.

"So you'll go out if we can find you something you like better?" Jeri jumped.

Six hours later, Jade was wondering why she'd ever argued. She was having a blast. The club they were at had a great band and Willow knew the owner and was able to get Jade in as long as she promised not to drink. Jade had never done any dancing except for the formal stuff that Lucius had taught her and found the freedom of letting herself go, where nothing mattered but the music and you didn't even need a partner.

The different center of gravity made her a little hesitant at first, but she managed to get the hang of it. Some of her dance partners wanted to get a little fresher than she would accept, but the girls were always around to run interference. And if they weren't around, it usually only took one thing.

She smiled up at her current admirer. "That's very flattering," she said, "but not only do I have a boyfriend, but I'm also only sixteen."

"Sixteen?" he said in disbelief. Admittedly, she didn't look it, dressed in a silver halter type dress and after she had let Denise do her makeup. Glitter dusted her cheekbones, hair and upper chest.

"Yep," she admitted easily. "Still have two more years of school to go." When she had said that to the last guy, he couldn't wait to get away. Unfortunately, it didn't work this time.

"Sixteen?" he asked again, his voice much more intrigued than it had been before. "Well, now, I've always preferred my girls to be... a little greener."

"Excuse me?" Jade said in disbelief.

He moved closer. "Some might prefer the full blossom, but I like the bud. So much possibility. Are you sweet sixteen and never been kissed?"

"Didn't you hear me say I have a boyfriend?" Jade glared, but the man just laughed it off. She looked around quickly for any of her friends, but couldn't find them. She wasn't scared, the man might be a jerk, but wasn't showing himself to be dangerous, yet. Besides, she knew how to take care of herself.

"Let me guess, some mewling little boy that wouldn't have a clue how to show you a good time? There's something to be said for experience you know."

"There's something to be said for living, as well," a dark, dangerous voice said from behind him.

Jade's face flared with happiness before it darkened and turned angry.

"Lucius," she said in a hard voice.

"Jade," he answered softly. "Is this guy bothering you?"

As he moved forward, the man saw a tall blonde dressed in black. At first glance he did not look very dangerous, but one look in his grey-blue eyes sent the man *running* from the intriguing girl. Some things just weren't worth the pain, and that man's eyes promised... Pain.

Neither noticed as the man left, their eyes not seeing anything but each other.

Part 42/?

Lucius walked into the Manor, tired to the bone. It had taken some doing, but he'd finally gotten everything to the point where he could leave it for a while, as well as gotten the information he'd been sure was around someplace. Now, all he wanted to do was finally relax with Harry and his son.

He looked around. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger on the difference. He searched around until he found Draco reading in the library. "Draco!" he smiled.

"Father," Draco answered without bothering to look up.

Lucius was surprised at that reaction. It had been necessary to leave for longer periods than what had just passed before, and his son had always taken it in stride. Why was now different?

"Is everything all right?" he asked worriedly. "Where's Harry?"

"Did you check his room?" Draco said, still not looking up.

"Not yet. Draco?" his tone of voice made the simple name an order. Draco ignored it as he reached up to turn the page in his book.

Seeing he wasn't going to get any more out of his son, without threats that weren't quite necessary... yet, he headed upstairs. Standing outside of Harry's room, he shivered. Something was wrong, he could tell. Slowly he opened the door. "Harry?" he called out softly. The word echoed back to him from the empty room.

He stepped in and stopped as what he was seeing totally impacted him. This was a guest room. There were no clothes hanging in the closet, no photo album on the bedside table or jewelry box on the vanity. No broom stood in the corner, no books or scrolls lay on the desk... the room was completely empty of personality... and of any sign it had once been Harry's.

"Happy father?" Draco drawled from behind him.

Lucius whirled to glare at his only son. "Where is he?" he growled.

Draco looked around the room, unhappiness crossing his features as he looked over the bare furniture. His face got hard when he turned back to his father. "Where you wanted him," he hissed. "Away."

"I didn't want him to leave! Where would he get that idea?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about the fact that you were gone for a week without a word to anyone? Would it have killed you to call for a moment or two, send an owl, or even just give a note to one of the house elves to deliver? Hell, Harry wouldn't have minded if you'd simply woken him up when you came in at night, he certainly waited up for long enough. But you couldn't even be bothered to do that, could you?" Draco stalked towards his father as he spoke and it was all Lucius could do to keep from backing up. Draco glared up at the father he loved, but didn't much like at the moment. "He thinks this was your way of dumping him without having to have a big argument about it."

"That's not why," Lucius began, put on the defensive.

"I'm not the one you have to convince." Draco interrupted before turning on his heel and striding out of the room.

Lucius took one last look around and tried to gather his thoughts. He hadn't meant for things to happen like this. It was obvious looking around that Harry had not planned on coming back. The only question left, was would he come back if asked, and how much begging he would have to do beforehand.

Lucius headed determinately downstairs and to the study. The only way to know was to ask. "Voco Harry," he intoned, pressing against the spot where Harry's mirror was linked. No one answered. After several repeated calls, Lucius gave up. Either Harry was not carrying his mirror with him or he wasn't going to answer. Neither were good indicators that this was going to be easy.

Lucius took a deep breath and centered himself, reaching out along his link to the Manor for the emblem portkeys. One, his own, was right there, another was upstairs but still within the Manor. The third was farther away, obviously still in London, and not at the Dursleys, although he would have been told immediately if Harry had returned there. He could have activated the portkey, bringing Harry back to the study whether he wanted to come or not and for a moment he considered the idea. Then he decided against it. Harry was obviously upset enough with him right now, there was no need to get him even more angry by dragging him away without his permission. He would simply have to go find him.

Since the destination was obviously not a part of Diagon Alley or its surroundings, chances were it was part of Muggle London and he needed to dress the part. He headed upstairs quickly, not wanting to waste any more time than he already had. He walked into his room to find that his son had anticipated him and had decided to give him some help. Laid out on his bed were a pair of black leather pants that laced up the front and left very little to the imagination, and a black silk shirt with silver embroidery. A note was laying on top of the shirt and he picked it up to read. "Tuck it in," it ordered.

He decided to take his son's suggestions, knowing that Draco would be more likely to know what Harry would like to see him in. When he had dressed, he looked at himself in the mirror. The mirror wolf-whistled back. Lucius raised an eyebrow. He was sure that he had taught the stupid mirror to keep its thoughts to itself. "Sorry," the mirror muttered, a flash flicking over its surface. "But you do look hot."

Lucius had to admit it was true. The pants showed off his assets very nicely, while the shirt hinted at what was beneath. Black boots completed the outfit.

He thought for a moment of taking a gift of some kind as a peace token, but decided against it. Harry loved gifts, it was true, but only if they came from friendship. He'd made that clear in his reaction to the gifts that had been sent him after the defeat of Voldemort. Although some of them had come out of the good of the people's heart, more had come as a way of getting something of their own. If Lucius gave him one now, he'd think of it as a bribe to try to get him back, as trying to buy him, and that's the last thing Lucius wanted.

He Apparated close to where he could feel the emblem. The feeling led him to a large building with a line out the door and music pounding out every time the doors opened. A club. A Muggle club. He, Lucius Damian Malfoy was expected to go into a Muggle club. He sneered in disgust. If it had been anyone but Harry, he would have turned around and walked away. Instead, he pulled all of his dignity around him and strode towards the front door as if he owned the place, passing all the peons in line as if they were unimportant, which, to him, they were.

One of the bouncers looked as if he was going to try to stop him, but a glance from his stormy eyes stopped that idea in its tracks. His whole bearing screamed power and authority, as well as a ruthless and dangerous nature. No one wanted to get in his way. Even the people he passed couldn't find it in them to complain. At least, not in anything louder than a whisper.

Lucius found himself assaulted from all sides. Music, if you could call it that, was being played loud enough to shake the very foundations of the building, or so it seemed. Lights were flashing into his eyes at sporadic intervals while people were flailing about all over the place. He forced himself through the horde, focusing only on the feel of the emblem portkey which meant he was getting closer to his goal. Finally, he could tell he was close and stopped to look around.

It took several moments, and several looks before he recognized the glittering silver vision moving gracefully just off to his left. He... she, because at this point there was nothing to show to any observer that the person in silver, dancing energetically and gracefully just out of reach of a dark haired young man watching lustfully, was anything other than the girl he appeared to be. Her head was thrown back and she didn't even seem to care about the people around her, watching, wishing, wanting.

She looked... happy, content. How rarely had he seen that, except when the girl... boy had laid peacefully in his arms... the night before he disappeared. He groaned under his breath, suddenly getting an inkling of part of *why* his absence had hit his young lover so hard.

He followed silently as the music stopped and Harry moved towards the bar, the other man following after, almost panting. He was close enough to hear Harry decline the man's attentions and absurdly grateful to hear the boy say that he had a boyfriend. Perhaps not everything was lost, and he still had a chance to get back in Harry's good graces. He growled as the interloper moved closer instead of away as Harry had obviously expected.

"Let me guess, some mewling little boy that wouldn't have a clue how to show you a good time? There's something to be said for experience you know." The man said smarmily.

"There's something to be said for living, as well," Lucius growled darkly.

Lucius was delighted to see Harry's face had flared with happiness before it darkened and turned angry.

"Lucius," she said in a hard voice.

"Jade," he answered softly. "Is this guy bothering you?"

Neither noticed as the man ran away; they were too busy staring at one another.


	16. Chapter 43 and 44

Only two chapters today since it finishes up the scene.

Part 43/?

"Nothing I can't handle," Harry growled back. "I am capable of taking care of myself, you know."

"I know," Lucius admitted. "Look Harry, I'm sorry."

"For?" Harry asked, taking the soft drink the bartender handed him. He led the way to an almost concealed booth back in a corner. Two people were in there necking, but one glare from Lucius sent them packing. Harry slid into one side of the booth while Lucius took the other.

"What do you mean 'for'?" he asked once they were situated.

"Telling me you're sorry, doesn't do a hell of a lot of good," Harry replied in a cold voice. "If you don't know what you're apologizing for."

"For whatever I did to make you think I wanted you to leave," Lucius said in exasperation.

"Are you trying to tell me you don't know what that is?" Harry scoffed.

Lucius sighed and the tenseness went out of his shoulders. "I know I should have at least left you a note," he admitted. "Draco made that very clear."

"And you needed your son to point that out to you?" Harry sneered.

Lucius decided he did not like that look on his young lover's face and never wanted to see it there again. He especially did not want to be the one to put it there. "Yes, I did," he answered evenly. "Narcissa didn't care what I did, just as long as I was away from home as much as possible. Most other lovers I've had didn't care. We got together when I had the time and inclination, and that was as far as it went. I've never had anyone who cared where I was, so I never had anyone I needed to tell where I was."

Some of the anger went out of Harry's expression at that confession, but not all of it. "I could believe that, except..." he hesitated, then seemed to gather his courage up. "They say that once is... something, I can't remember... twice is coincidence and three times conspiracy. I find it very strange and hard to believe that when I stayed up until midnight, you came home at one, when I stayed awake until one, you got home at two, and the night I spent the whole time in your room waiting for you... you didn't come home at all. Don't you find that a little strange?"

"You didn't think I had another lover, did you?" Lucius asked.

"No, I can't say that thought ever occurred to me," Harry replied. "Why? Is that something I should be worried about?"

"Of course not."

"I don't see why not. You obviously think so little of the little bit of sex we've had and it must have been so bad that you didn't want any more."

Lucius blinked. Did Harry really mean that? Did he really think that? Looking at the way that Harry's eyes couldn't catch his, it was obvious that he did. Damn, this was worse than he thought.

"Harry," he said softly, making sure to catch the boy's glitter-shadowed eyes. "That night was wonderful. Yes, we didn't do much compared to what I've done with others, but there was far more emotion and meaning in what we *did* do than there has ever been with anyone I went all the way with."

"Then why?" Harry whispered in a broken voice. He suddenly looked very young and insecure.

Lucius cursed himself silently at seeing what he'd done to this usually confident young man. "Because I was stupid, because I didn't think, because I knew that if I did see you I'd want to do nothing but forget all the things I had to do and curl up on a couch with you. You don't know what a temptation you are to me," he murmured, reaching over to run a gentle hand down Harry's cheek. He felt his heart jump when Harry nestled his cheek into the hand. "I'm sorry," he whispered, meaning it completely. "I'm sorry I ignored you, I'm sorry I made you think you weren't important to me, I'm sorry I made you think you had to leave."

"I won't stay where I'm not wanted," Harry said firmly.

"You are wanted. You are..." Lucius hesitated, but looking at the face in front of him, feeling that warm cheek against his hand, how could he not say it. "Loved. You are loved."

Harry gasped, his eyes wide.

"I love you Harry." Lucius said softly.

A tear slowly slid down Harry's face to be brushed away by Lucius' finger.

"I know I've never said it before, but you knew, didn't you?" Lucius asked carefully.

"I thought..." he gulped. "But you never actually said it... and after the last week..." Harry said softly.

"I'm sorry," Lucius said once again. He'd never said those words so many times in one day, but he meant all of it. "I'm sorry I ever made you doubt us."

"Blaise said that a Malfoy would only say they were sorry to someone important to him," Harry informed him.

Lucius tilted his head. "That's true," he admitted. "Actually, you've probably gotten more apologies tonight than anyone else has ever received from me."

Harry chuckled slightly. When he moved away slightly and his eyes dropped, Lucius realized there was still more to be talked about.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"What... what was it you were doing that was so important?" Harry finally asked. Lucius could hear the rest of the question, though he knew Harry would never ask it, 'more important than me'.

"The Ministry is a mess," Lucius told him. "We knew it was going to be bad, but I don't think any of us had any conception of the amount of corruption currently riddling the Ministry. I spent the entire first day simply trying to find a core of people that I could trust, and it wasn't happening. It says much about the place, I believe, that Weasley is the person I trust most at the moment."

Harry's eyes flew wide. "Arthur Weasley? But you two can't stand each other!"

"Exactly," Lucius agreed. "However, going through the high level Ministry workers, I found people that worked for Voldemort, people that worked for Dumbledore and people that worked for themselves, which tended to include taking bribes. Nowhere, among the upper echelon did I find anyone trustworthy."

"What about Percy?" Harry asked, interested.

"He's not a high level official," Lucius reminded him. "But now that he's gotten over his worship of that boss of his, he's not too bad."

"Call the papers!" Harry mocked softly, "Lucius Malfoy is actually admitting a Weasley is not too bad."

"Funny," Lucius mock glared.

"Surely just going through the officers did not take all of your time," Harry prodded.

"That took about two days," Lucius admitted. "Then we had to go through several Aurors before we could use Veritaserum on Fudge. That took all night."

"Three days ago?" Harry asked, sinking his head into his hands.

"That's right," Lucius told him.

"The night I was waiting for you to come home." Harry groaned.

Lucius just nodded.

Harry looked up at him. "Tell me the rest of it."

"Rest of it?" Lucius tried to prevaricate.

"The part you don't want to tell me," Harry prompted.

"I was trying to find out about you," he finally admitted. "I had been under the impression that the Ministry knew where you were staying, but if so, why didn't Fudge give that information to Voldemort?"

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore always said that I was safer at the Dursleys than anywhere," he said. "Which never really made any sense to me, not even counting the fact that the Dursleys were almost more dangerous to me than Voldemort. All it would have taken was for someone to offer Vernon enough money and he would have handed me over willingly. If they didn't want to bother with that, all it would have taken would be to grab Dudley when he was out, and then offer to trade him for me."

Lucius nodded his agreement. "Well, it turns out your whereabouts were known to some members of the Ministry, but not Fudge. Several of the Unspeakables had the job of watching over you."

"Does that mean that they knew what was going on?" Harry asked in a quiet voice. It truly wasn't a question, he knew what the answer would be."

"They knew," Lucius admitted. "But they reported only to Dumbledore."

There was silence for a while. "So, he did know. I always figured he did, though I didn't realize he knew *everything*"

"All of it," Lucius said softly. "I found records all the way back to the day after you were given to them. Practically every moment of the past thirteen years is written down there."

"Did you read it?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes," Lucius admitted.

"All of it?" he asked in a small voice

Lucius nodded solemnly. "Every moment, of every day."

"That must have taken a while." Harry still wouldn't look at him.

"Three days," Lucius admitted.

Harry glanced up. "You finished today?"

"It was the first time I've been home since I started. There was no way I could see you while I was going through that. I was too angry and I didn't want you to think I was angry at you."

Harry leaned back and Lucius could tell he was thinking about everything he'd said. "What did you decide to do about the Dursleys?"

"I decided I'd take that up with Severus," Lucius said truthfully. "He'd kill me slowly if he thought I didn't allow him to help deal with them."

Harry chuckled, but then was silent again, and his eyes wouldn't meet Lucius'.

"Harry? What are you thinking?" Lucius asked worriedly.

Harry sighed, then leaned forward and caught Lucius' eyes. "I understand a lot more now than I did. I even think I understand a lot of why you acted like you did, but..."

"But?" Lucius encouraged.

Harry grabbed his courage and started to speak. "Why did I leave?" he asked, going in at a tangent.

Lucius was surprised. "Because I ignored you? Especially after our night together."

Harry nodded slowly. "That was part of it," he agreed.

"What was the rest?" Lucius asked softly. He knew they had to get past this, and it wouldn't happen without getting *everything* out in the open.

"I felt worthless," Harry confessed. "I was being ignored and I could only think of two reasons for it. Either you'd gotten what you wanted from me and didn't need me any more, or I was so bad at the sex stuff that you didn't want to have anything more to do with me. You hurt me, I don't think you really understand how much that's true. I left because I couldn't deal with being alone in the same place we'd been together. I've been ignored and worthless for most of my life, you know that, especially after what you read. I can't deal with that anymore. I can't! I know what it means to be important to someone now. I know what it's like to be loved. I can't go back to being worthless again. I can't!"

Lucius moved before he even knew he was going to. In moments he was holding Harry close as the boy finally broke down and cried.

"I'm sorry," Lucius whispered desperately as he tried to comfort his lover, rocking him and stroking his back as he spoke. "I'm so sorry. I *never* meant for you to feel that way and it will *never* happen again. I swear, Harry. You're not worthless, you never were. You're one of the two most important people in my life, and I love you. I thought I was protecting you from me."

"I don't need to be protected," Harry gasped out, his arms going around Lucius' neck in a death grip. "I just need to be loved."

"You are, baby, you are."

Part 44/?

Harry finally drew back, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry. I promised I wasn't going to do this," he muttered.

"If it's what you need, than you *should* do it," Lucius drew back as well so he could look into those glistening green eyes. "I will not look down on you for it; it's been a rough week."

"That's one way of putting it," Harry chuckled wetly.

"Jade!" a voice called from beyond the edge of the booth.

"Hey Denise, what's wrong?" Harry asked, concerned at the worry in her voice.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Her eyes went wide as she saw who was there with him. Immediately she grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out of the booth, putting herself between him and his blond lover. "What do you think you're doing here?" she growled.

"It's okay," Harry peeked around her blocking arm. "He apologized and everything. He even had an excuse."

"A good excuse?" a laughing voice said from behind them.

"A good one?" Harry said thoughtfully. "I don't think there *is* such a thing as a good excuse for ignoring me for a week, do you? But it was an understandable one."

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Lucius asked as he pushed himself into a standing position.

"Nope," Harry said cheekily. "You've apologized, but you still have to make it up to me."

Denise and the other girl, Willow, started to grin. "That's the way to do it, girl, don't give in too easily."

"Come dance with me?" Harry asked nicely.

"Dance? To that... that... whatever you call it?" Lucius looked disbelieving.

Harry pouted. "Please?" he pleaded. "I really want to dance some more, and if you're there no one else will be putting their hands on me. Please?" He looked up through his lashes and put his most pleading expression on.

"I'm doomed," Lucius muttered, looking at that expression.

Leaving the two crossdressers laughing behind him, he followed his lover out onto the dance floor.

It took a lot of teasing on Harry's part before Lucius would let himself go enough to move with the music. Once he did however, he suddenly had everyone's attention.

Harry had heard rumors that the Malfoys had Veela blood within them. Now he believed it. The way Lucius was moving showed a gracefulness that was decidedly nonhuman. He drew all eyes towards him, but his eyes never left Harry's. Harry moved forward until they were touching all along their fronts then away.

They started out just dancing, letting their bodies brush every once in a while. As the music changed they moved even closer. There was a circle gathered around as if moths drawn to a black and silver flame. As they ground together, Harry's hands managed to pull Lucius' shirt out of the back of his pants and ran his hands up Lucius' back. Lucius' own hands had moved down Harry's bare back and under the edge of his dress to settle on Harry's bottom. He started to wonder, something was different, but before he could figure it out, Harry's mouth had met his and they were kissing desperately. They had forgotten all about the people around them, but luckily Jade's friends hadn't forgotten them. When it seemed as if the two reunited lovers were going to get a little *too* hot and heavy, the girls moved in.

"Hey Jade," Karen tapped her friend on the shoulder, ignoring the growl that was the response from the other member of the duo. "Don't you think you and handsome here should be doing that somewhere else? Like a bedroom or something?"

Harry blushed as he looked around and saw all the people watching them. Lucius didn't bother. His cold-eyed glare seemed to categorize all of them as beneath his notice and sent most of them off to other pursuits. Besides, it looked as if the show was over. He looked down at the boy still in his arms. "Will you come back home with me?" he asked softly.

Harry just looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "Can't let Draco get too lonely, can I?" he grinned.

"Brat," Lucius said lovingly.

"And you deserve every moment of brattiness," Harry said, in exactly the same tone. It surprised a laugh out of Lucius.

"Come on," he murmured, reluctantly disengaging all but one hand from his delectable mate. They walked towards the front door of the club with his hand still wrapped around Harry's waist, resting against his side, half under the edge of the dress. Harry willingly stayed snuggled up next to him as they walked.

Once hidden, they used their emblem portkeys to go back to Malfoy Manor. They ended up back in the study, where Draco was waiting for them.

"Well, I see he got his head out of his arse," he said sarcastically to Harry. Harry just laughed.

"He apologized, many, many times," he admitted.

"Well, at least he can do one thing right," Draco said snarkily.

"I am still your father," Lucius warned.

"Yes, I know," Draco sighed hard. "This is my pain," he remarked to a laughing Harry, smiling himself from seeing his friend so happy.

"About those children we were going to have," Lucius said to Harry, ignoring his son. "I obviously need a new heir."

"I thought we were going to go slow?" Harry asked flirtily, leaning against him and batting his eyes at the older man.

Lucius smiled, thankful that Harry had so much capacity to forgive. He realized that he could have seriously lost the younger man, and his life would be much less without him in it. Especially since both his son and his best friend liked Harry better than him and would have made his life a living hell. He reached up to run his hand down Harry's hair, but pulled back on touching it.

Harry laughed at the expression on the blonde's face as he ran his own hands over his hair-sprayed and glitter encrusted locks. "I do kind of need a shower, don't I? Oh, hex," he suddenly muttered, looking disgusted at himself.

"What's the matter?" both Malfoys asked worriedly in perfect synchronization.

"All of my stuff is still at Jeri's. I don't have anything to change into."

Draco looked at his father and smirked before looking back at his friend. "I think that kimono is still around here somewhere."

Harry glanced up at the pained expression on Lucius' face and then smirked back at the other teen. "That'll do for now," he decided and left to go take a shower. Draco followed him out.

Lucius headed for the alcohol as soon as the boys left. The kimono... after not seeing him in a week... they were definitely trying to exterminate his self-control, weren't they?

Harry happily washed the glitter out of his hair and off of his body. Draco had promised to get one of the house elves to find some make-up remover as well as the kimono. As he waited, he luxuriated in the feel of the unlimited hot water pouring down on him from several showerheads. He had missed this bathroom. He had *seriously* missed this bathroom.

Draco walked in with the promised items and heard Harry humming happily. "Tell me the truth, you're just with my dad because of the bathrooms, aren't you?" he grinned as he glanced through the translucent glass. He headed towards a nearby shelf before what he saw registered. "Merlin's Balls!" he shouted, spinning around quickly. As Harry turned toward him in surprise, he looked again. "Where are yours?"

"Where are my what?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Your balls! And your prick! And any other boy parts!" Draco babbled.

Harry laughed as he got out of the shower and covered himself with a towel. "You remember what Ron thought when he saw me as Jade?" he asked. He used another towel to start drying his hair.

"Yeeeesssss," Draco drew out as he realized what must have happened.

"Well, I didn't. At least, not until I'd already tried one of the candies from the twins. I've got another fifteen hours or so before it wears off."

Draco got over his shock and started to leer. "Well, I've always wondered what you'd be like as a girl, want to experiment?"

Draco yelped as the towel Harry had been using on his hair was suddenly striking his unprotected backside. It didn't change his expression. "I didn't know you liked it rough. I thought you liked it the other way around." Draco broke and ran as Harry started stalking towards him. He knew what he could get away with and when he'd gone too far and he'd gone *way* past that point. Making himself scarce for the next day or so was looking like a very good idea.

Harry waited until Draco was out of the room before laughing. He should have expected that, he really should have. He quickly finished drying and took off the make-up that didn't come off with the water and soap from the bath. Dressed in the kimono he'd worn once before, with devastating results, he headed downstairs.

Harry loved the look in Lucius' eyes as the blonde caught sight of him. It was a combination of lust, possessiveness and love that made him feel warm, tingly, loved... and very aroused, although that certainly felt weird in this body.

With a sigh he settled himself only Lucius' lap. Quietly, they talked about what Harry had been doing while Lucius was gone.

"Karen bought me a book," he said mischievously.

"Oh?" Lucius raised an eyebrow.

"Mm-hmm. It's called 'Joy of Gay Sex'. It was *very* interesting reading," Harry told him provocatively.

"Oh, really," Lucius purred.

"Yep, some of it I'm not really ready for, but some things..." Harry grinned, his hand drifting down to unexplored territory and that very interesting bulge he'd been noticing from the first sight of his lover in the club. He stroked gently, and then frowned. He looked up to find Lucius looking uncomprehendingly down into his lap.

"Isn't it supposed to be getting harder?" Harry asked, disconcerted.

"It most certainly is," Lucius growled, perturbed. He'd never had this problem with a male, and there was certainly no way he should be having it with the boy he loved.

"Do you think it's because I'm female right now?" Harry said thoughtfully, still petting even though nothing was happening. He had thought for a moment that he was doing something wrong, or perhaps Lucius didn't want him as much as he'd thought he did, but he dismissed those thoughts. Lucius had shown him too many times that he wanted him, up to and including the look in his eyes when he'd walked into the study this evening.

"You've dressed as a female before and it's never mattered," Lucius responded absently.

"No, I mean really a female. I ran into one of the twins gender changing tricks." He started to pout. "I wanted to see you tonight, and maybe play with you. I haven't gotten to do that yet."

"I have no idea what's going on," Lucius said strongly. "I wanted you when I thought you really were female, I want you now, this should not be happening."

Harry sighed and settled back down. "But it's not me, right?"

"It most certainly isn't you," Lucius said immediately.

Harry looked thoughtful as he watched Lucius take a drink, a large one. "I don't think getting drunk will help," he muttered.

"Fortunately, that's not possible with this," Lucius answered absently, still trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe he'd gotten hit by a hex? But Draco was the only one who would have had a chance, and he had enough survival instinct not to do something of this sort. He thought anyway.

"What are you thinking?" Harry asked. He'd wanted to explore some more, but wouldn't have been unhappy just cuddling for a while. However, Lucius was obviously extremely unhappy with the situation.

"Wondering if Draco has so little self-preservation in him to do something like this," Lucius answered.

Harry suddenly sat up. "You said that it's not possible to get drunk with whatever you're drinking, right?"

"Correct," he answered, wondering where the boy was going with this. "It's got spells on it that allow the drinker to stay sober, no matter how much you drink."

"Are you the only one that ever drinks it?" He asked intently.

Lucius nodded, smelling the drink to see if he could figure out what had set Harry off. "Yes, it is an acquired taste and neither Draco nor Severus have ever shown any interest in acquiring it."

Harry got up and strode over to the mirror on the wall. "Mirror, mirror on the wall," he muttered. "How do you get in touch with Severus?" he asked suddenly.

Lucius frowned and pointed to one section in the middle right. "Voco Snape will get you his sitting room mirror. You're supposed to leave a message if he's not there and it's not an emergency. You think he had something to do with this?"

"He did threaten to make you sorry if you ever hurt me, didn't he?" Harry asked distractedly. "And I bet you're sorry now. Voco Snape!" he called, pressing the section Lucius pointed to.

"Is there a problem, Lucius?" Severus voice drawled out of the mirror before his picture even showed. He looked surprised when he saw who was calling. "Harry, are you okay?"

"Did you put a potion in his alcohol?" Harry asked, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at the man in the mirror.

"A potion? What kind of potion?"

"Don't try to give me that innocent look, Sev, you're worse than Ron with it! Fix it!"

"Why should I? I promised him that he'd pay for hurting you, and don't try to tell me that his ignoring you didn't hurt. I had to live with you moping around for three days."

"So to get back at him, you took away my toy? I wanted to play with that!" Harry snapped. As Severus stared at him and Lucius started laughing behind him, Harry thought back over what he said and started to blush. "I'm obviously tired. I think I'll head to bed. You two talk it over, but I want it fixed, Sev, and I mean that. Um... yeah... I'll talk to you later, good night." Harry left as quickly as his bare feet and violently blushing face could take him.

TBC...

/laughs/ Another line that always makes me giggle ^_^. Hope you enjoyed it too.


	17. Chapter 45, 46 and 47

I'm not really happy with the cutting of part 46. Again, however, I erred on the side of caution when it came to the scene that was there. There were two sections where entire sections were just cut out. It should be pretty obvious where. Remember, the uncensored version of this fic can be found at my yahoogroup Jendrafic. A *very* short summary of the two missing scenes can be found all the way at the bottom of this section.

Part 45/?

The next morning Harry could barely look at the older man without blushing. Lucius' amused chuckles at every blush didn't help.

"I need to go pick my stuff up," Harry reminded him. He was currently dressed in a set of Draco's old clothes and managed to look feminine even in the boyish garb. Of course, the fact that he was biologically a female for another six or so hours didn't hurt.

"Where would you like me to drop you off?" Lucius answered easily. He might have been upset at Harry's comment of the night before if he hadn't been so completely amused at *Harry's* reaction. "You'll have to portkey back, I need to go visit Severus. Do you have anything in particular you do, or do not, want to happen to the Dursleys?"

Harry stared into the distance for a while in thought. "I don't want them dead," he admitted. "Nor do I want you to use any of the Unforgivables on them. I'd prefer it if you'd run the ideas by me before you do anything to them."

Lucius nodded. "I can agree to that."

"What about Dumbledore?" he asked. "You know, I knew he wasn't the greatest guy in the world, and I knew he wasn't to be trusted. I even knew he had to have some idea of what I had been through, but I didn't even consider that he might have known all about it before I ever reached Hogwart's and chose to leave me there anyway. What did he get out of it? I thought maybe it was to get me to trust him and look at him as my savior for taking me away from the Dursleys, but that would only be true if he'd *kept* me away from them. He pretty much lost all of that when he sent me back even after I begged not to go. It seems to me I'd be far more likely to become another Voldemort after the way I was raised than become the 'Savior of the Wizarding World.'"

"Unfortunately, despite what we know about him, Dumbledore is still nearly untouchable."

"Yeah, and he will be for a while," Harry agreed unhappily.

As Lucius dropped Harry off outside the now familiar store, Harry turned to grin at him. "One thing," he said. "Uncle Vernon works at Grunnings, and I hear it isn't doing so well. It might even be for sale." He turned to walk into the store where Jeri was waiting.

Lucius Apparated into Hogsmeade and walking into The Three Broomsticks, looked around. Spying a familiar dark presence in the back booth, he headed towards him. He felt himself pass through a privacy ward and settled into the booth. Silence covered the two of them as the proprietress bustled over with their drinks before leaving the two men alone.

"An impotency potion?" Lucius finally asked in a calm voice.

"It seemed appropriate," Severus replied equally as calm. "His toy?"

Lucius chuckled. "He still can't look me in the eye," he admitted. "And I don't think I've ever seen him as red."

"Was he drunk?" Severus asked, his tone a warning to the tone of 'if-you-drove-him-to-drink-I'm-turning-you-into-potions-ingredients' even as he slid the antidote across the table.

"I only ever saw him drink what I believe the Muggles call a 'coda'. Whatever it was, I do not believe it contained alcohol."

Severus took his word for it for now.

Lucius pulled out a large book from one of his cloak pockets. "This is what I was doing." He handed it over.

Severus looked at it. It was a simple black leather journal, stamped 'Year Four'. He opened it to a random page. His eyes got dark with rage as he read. The clinical descriptions somehow made the abuse depicted even more real.

"Most of the watchers, especially when he was young, didn't seem to know who he was. They were just told to watch and report and not to interfere unless he seemed likely to get seriously hurt, which meant killed, permanently maimed or raped. Copies of the reports were sent to Dumbledore each week. I do understand that for every watcher, three had to be obliviated because they could not condone their orders."

"What are you planning to do about this?" Snape growled. He was currently going through a section which only said 'subject locked in cupboard' for two weeks straight, with only occasional mentions of food or being let out to use the bathroom.

"For Dumbledore, we simply have to wait, we're not powerful enough politically to take him on yet. For the Dursleys... well that's why we're here. Harry said we couldn't kill them or use any Unforgivables. He also wants veto rights. Now that surveillance has been pulled and the wards are down we can act."

Their evil chuckles scared Rosemerta, who'd come to check on them, right back to the bar.

"We could change them into cats and let the godmutt and his wolf friend play with them during the next full moon," Severus suggested.

"I think that no killing means not taking them to someone else to be killed," Lucius argued, though he had to admit it was a good idea. "Perhaps we should transform them into house elves and give them to Harry or some of our old acquaintances."

Severus smirked mightily. "That would be perfect. Too bad it isn't possible."

"We really must find a way around the no transforming into magical creatures for anyone other than a mage rule." Lucius almost pouted. It truly would have been a perfect revenge.

They continued to talk it over, throwing ideas back and forth across the table for most of the afternoon before finally coming up with a multi-level plan that they both agreed with and thought might do as a start for getting back at everything Harry had gone through.

Lucius Apparated back to the Manor just long enough to leave a note and a little something extra for Harry and change into a Muggle suit, before heading out to Muggle London to put the first part of the plan into motion. Never one to put all of his eggs into one basket, or all of his money into one bank no matter how impregnable it might be, he headed towards the Bank of London, which had held some of his money for over a dozen years. It was time to buy a drill company. Not that he actually knew, or cared, what drills were.

It was surprisingly easy to gain control of the business. As Harry had said, it was not doing well and the owners were eager to get it off their hands. The deal would not be concluded for several days, but Lucius was truly not in a hurry. There were other things to put into motion first. And for tonight, more important things to do.

He got back to the Manor and changed quickly, making sure he was waiting at the foot of the stairs at six p.m. on the dot. Five minutes later, his eyes were glued to the top of the stairs as his lover almost floated down them. Harry was dressed in a dark green velvet dancing dress, pleated skirt flouncing around his knees and the crystal rose that Lucius had left with the invitation to dinner pinned to his upper left chest.

"You look lovely, Harry," Lucius murmured as the younger boy reached the bottom stair.

"Thank you," Harry blushed lightly but wore a pleased smile. "You look very nice as well."

Lucius smiled back and dropped a quick kiss on Harry's lips before draping his shawl over his shoulders and leading him outside.

Harry stopped and blinked. He didn't know what to expect of this date, but a horse... no, a *pegasus* drawn open air carriage was certainly not it.

Lucius helped Harry up to the carriage seat and then walked around to get in the other side and grabbed the reins. Harry's eyes were wide and his expression ecstatic as the pegasi started moving, racing forward until they had enough speed to spread their wings and take to the air.

They flew over London, assured of their safety by the invisibility spell covering the carriage and those that drew it. They just went by to see several of the more prominent landmarks in London; Big Ben, the Tower of London, Westminster Palace, Buckingham Palace, Merlin's High Tower and the wizarding monument to George Cleartot the Dragon Slayer who Christians thought was a saint instead of the wizard he was.

Finally they came to their destination, and Harry got another surprise. He thought they were eventually going to land and go to a normal restaurant for dinner, but that's not what happened. Instead of descending, the flying carriage was rising, heading straight into a large and imposing looking cloudbank. As they passed through the lowest clouds, the rest disappeared, and what had been pile upon pile of thick bouncy clouds became an enchanter's paradise. It was a palace made of marble and crystal. Surely most of it was illusion, but it was the largest and most intricate illusion Harry had ever seen.

"Welcome, to Castle in the Sky," Lucius announced softly, not wishing to break the spell this place seemed to have on his partner. Competently he drove the carriage around to the front where a valet waited to help them down and drive the chariot away.

Harry tucked his hand into Lucius' elbow and allowed him to lead him into the... restaurant? What exactly was this place?

"Would you prefer to dance first, or eat first?" Lucius asked as the maitre' d came towards them.

Harry thought for a moment. He loved to dance and if they ate first, he might be too full to dance, but he'd skipped lunch and was very hungry. A quiet growl from his stomach made up his mind. "Eat please."

They were led to a discrete table and left with a menu, which like much that Harry had experienced so far that night, was unlike anything he'd ever seen. By touching each item on the menu, he was shown a picture of the item as well as being able to smell it. Some of the items were nothing he'd ever heard of before, but he decided to be daring and ended up ordering a dish that the menu said originally came from true elves.

After they ordered, Harry looked expectantly at his lover. "What is this place?"

"This is Castle in the Sky. It's a hotel and restaurant originally created as a palace, or so the legend goes, by a race of winged elves. It was found about five centuries ago by a wizard named Veros Sunturret. He immediately saw the possibilities, and once he was sure it was completely empty, renovated it for its current purpose. It moves with the winds, but since it can only be reached by flying in, it's not usually difficult to find."

"Why only by flying, why can't you Apparate?" Harry asked with interest.

"You have to know exactly where a place is to Apparate to it. Since the Castle always moves, it's impossible to Apparate to."

"Where did you get the pegasi?"

Lucius frowned. "You haven't been to the stables yet?"

"You have stables?" Harry perked up.

"Actually there are a number of Muggle and magical animals at the Manor. Have you been to the kennels?"

Harry shook his head, eyes wide.

"Remind me to take you there tomorrow afternoon," Lucius suggested.

"I will," Harry said immediately, and it was obvious that he was not going to forget.

The food was everything Harry had hoped for based on the description. It was light and flaky, melting on the tongue with just a hint of unknown spices.

After the food they talked about the plan for the Dursleys and Harry didn't have a problem with anything the two ex-Death Eaters had come up with. He did have a few suggestions that Lucius accepted happily.

Once they felt the food had digested enough, they headed to the dance floor and spent the next two hours paying attention to nothing but each other and the music.

Finally, they were getting tired. Lucius looked down at the black haired boy in his arms. "Would you like to stay in a room here for tonight?"

Harry looked deep into Lucius' eyes, seeing everything he hoped for there. "Yes," he murmured. "I would love to."

Part 46/?

The suite was everything that Harry had thought it might be, and more. Like the Malfoy tower, the rooms walls seemed to be invisible, but this time Harry knew that couldn't be true. Everywhere he looked were blue skies and clouds, birds and other flying animals, even a rainbow. The bed itself seemed to be a huge cloud, and Harry almost couldn't wait to find out if it was as soft as it looked. Then he found the bathroom.

The shower looked like a small raincloud. Harry experimentally put his hand under the cloud and was delighted at the feel of warm rain pouring over his skin. He quickly stripped. He had to try this out. It was only as he was pushing the underwear off that he remembered who he was with and why he was here.

He turned to look towards the doorway. If he was going to do... what they'd come here to do... and he was, then he needed to gather up his Gryffindor courage and do it right. With no more thought, he walked towards the door and opened it. Looking straight at Lucius, whose eyes were eagerly taking in all the bare skin he was showing, he offered. "I'm going to take a shower. You can join me if you want." Smiling, he walked back into the bathroom and got underneath the raincloud, reveling in the feel of warm rain against his body.

Mere seconds later, Lucius Malfoy walked into the room, naked except for a pair of black silk boxers. For what seemed like ages, the two just looked at each other, taking in the sight of each others' naked bodies. Finally, Harry spoke. "You're not going to take a shower in your boxers are you?"

Harry watched avidly as Lucius slipped the last covering away. His first thought was that the blond hair was natural. His second thought was that eyes were good, but hands were better. With a smile, he held out his hand to invite Lucius under his raincloud. The older man accepted.

Harry reached out as if to touch, but with a mischievous smile reached past him to where he'd found what he thought was a small well of liquid soap. He gathered some into the palm of his hand and held it up to the older man. "Is this soap or shampoo?" he asked.

Lucius took hold of his wrist and drew one finger over the liquid in his palm. Harry gasped almost silently. He was just touching his hand. How could that be erotic?

"It's both," Lucius finally remarked, seeming not to notice the reaction he'd created. "It's a cleaning potion that will work on any part of the body, hair or skin. It's not even supposed to hurt if you get it into your eyes."

Once Lucius released his hands, Harry rubbed them together, glad to see the cleaning potion lathered just like soap did. "May I?" he asked, nodding towards the chest in front of him.

"You may do anything you like," Lucius answered softly. "You don't have to ask my permission, I'll tell you if you're doing something I don't like."

"Same goes for you," Harry replied. "I promised I'd tell you if you went too far, so you don't have to ask me if anything is alright, either, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Harry did what he'd been wanting to do for ages, and started to explore.

He picked up Lucius' hand and started to wash it, coating the long elegant fingers with lather and drawing his fingers gently over the blonde's palm, hoping to give him the same feeling he'd given him. He moved his hands up Lucius' arm, tracing the lines of muscle upwards to the shoulder. Then he did the same for the other hand. He lathered his hands up once more before moving down. He noticed that his chest wasn't completely hairless, but the fine blond hairs were almost completely invisible as they dusted his chest, not being much more prominent under his arms.

Harry ran his hands over Lucius' chest, making sure to spend a lot of time on his nipples, liking the way they peaked up under the stimulation and the moans that he received for his efforts. He moved down over a tight stomach and narrow hips. Looking at what came next, he came to a decision and gracefully dropped to his knees.

Lucius looked down at the boy kneeling in front of him and blessed his own self-control. How could anyone expect to see a sight like that and not be affected, enticed, tempted beyond imagining? How could anyone not wish to see that black head move closer, those ripe lips parted while green eyes looked up beguilingly? He reached for some of the cleaning solution and poured it into the black hair level with his hips, needing to give his hands something to do so they didn't just grab the boy's head and pull it to where he wanted it.

Harry hummed his appreciation of having his scalp massaged, even as his hands reached forward... and down. Bypassing what called so much for his touch and reaching for his lover's feet. Careful not to tickle, he washed his way up the strong legs until his hands were once more back where they both wished for them to be. With deliberate care, Harry ran his hands over his lover's cock, touching it for the first time. It stood hard and proud as Harry covered it with lather, then leaned in to blow the bubbles away from the head.

That was as much as Lucius could stand. With a growl, he grabbed Harry by the shoulders and forced him to stand before getting his own handful of soap and starting to wash the green-eyed youth. He quickly proved there was much Harry still didn't know, finding erogenous zones in places the younger man would never have thought to look and paying them devastating attention. Before he'd even reached Harry's waist, the teen was hard, leaking and ready to shoot, but there was no way Lucius was ready for that to happen yet. He crouched down to wash Harry's feet and legs and gave a thorough but quick cleaning to his upstanding prick before turning him around.

Things proceeded from that point. (1)

Lucius smiled down at the insensible boy in his arms. Gently he washed the few places he missed and did his own hair while waiting for Harry to come out of his stupor.

Harry roused and looked up with dazed eyes.

"Enjoy yourself?" Lucius asked in a voice which did not even hint at his own frustrated arousal.

"Oh, yeah," Harry purred, stretching, cat-like. He pulled himself away from the warm body behind him and moved to wash the last of the shampoo out of his hair.

Lucius' eyes narrowed, and he was about to make a sharp remark when Harry turned and pounced. Tongues dueled as Harry's hands tried to find all of those places that Lucius had found on his own body, the ones that made him moan and whimper in pleasure. Only when Lucius' mouth had been thoroughly ravished and he was gasping for air, did Harry let it go, and once more drop to his knees in front of his lover.

"You didn't really think I'd forget you, did you?" Harry asked sultrily. (2)

Later, dried and curled up in bed together, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Was I okay?"

Lucius smiled. "You were far more than okay."

"I think I need more practice though," Harry yawned. "Lots and lots more practice."

"I'm always willing to help you improve," Lucius murmured back.

Part 47/?

Harry walked into his room to find Draco laying on his bed waiting for him.

"Well?" Draco asked.

"Well what?" Harry asked in return, unselfconsciously taking his dress off in front of his friend.

"What do you mean, well what? You go out last night on a date with my father and don't come back until 10 o'clock the next morning. Not to mention you look well-shagged."

"Draco!" Harry gasped, counterfeiting shock. "I thought you didn't want to know anything about your father's sex life. And no, I haven't been shagged at all. Well," he drawled, "not technically anyway."

"I don't particularly want to know about my father's sex life," Draco admitted. "But since I don't have one at the moment, I have to live vicariously through yours." His eyebrows went up when he saw what Harry was putting on. Since when did he wear shorts? Of course, they were very cute shorts, but still, as Jade he'd always worn skirts, and none of them were as short as these.

Harry saw where he was looking and laughed even as he put on a matching sailor type shirt. "The girls thought I needed to get a little more daring. As for your love life, that's your own fault, you've certainly had plenty of offers."

Harry walked over and lay on the bed as well. They twisted around so they were facing each other diagonally, one with his feet at the head of the bed, the other with his feet at the foot.

"Oh, and just who do you suggest I take up on it, Pansy?"

"Well, she is sixteen now, that means she's going to get that permanent glamour spell she's been talking about, right?"

"And your point would be?" Draco sneered. "She's going to have to marry someone who didn't know her when she was growing up, so they won't know how ugly the kids are liable to be."

Harry chuckled. "Maybe you should marry her then. Surely your good looks would make up for it."

"Not a chance I want to take," Draco groaned. "Besides, her voice gets on my nerves."

Harry had to agree with that. She did have the best screech at Hogwart's. Or should that be worst? Loudest at least.

"Too bad you're not gay," Harry said thoughtfully, hiding the glint of mischief in his eyes behind his long lashes. "Or bi at least."

"Why? You're already taken."

"True, but I was thinking about what Severus said."

"Your godfather? Eww! And can I say again, Eww! Besides, isn't he with the werewolf?"

"I wasn't talking about Sirius," Harry murmured. "I was thinking about Severus."

"*MY* godfather! That's even worse!" Draco yelped.

"But just think of it Draco!" Harry teased. "It'd make you my stepdad, and you're already my stepson, so you'd be your own grandpa! And you'd be your father's father, well, father-in-law, but still..."

Draco tried to work his way around the family relationships that would entail, but finally just gave up and collapsed laughing. "Can you imagine my father's face if you brought that up?"

They laughed for a while longer before calming down.

"Don't think you're going to get out of it that easy," Draco finally warned. "I want to know what happened last night."

Harry smiled dreamily, turning over to look up at the canopy as he remembered the night before. "It was wonderful, absolutely unbelievable. First there was this carriage drawn by pegasi... and how come you never showed me the stables?" he switched topics. "I didn't even know you had animals, beyond the wild ones in the forest."

"I'll show them to you later, just get on with the story," Draco promised in exasperation.

"That's okay, Lucius already said he'd take me by," Harry told him happily. The more annoyed Draco got, the happier Harry became. It wasn't often he could wind him up like this, and he planned on continuing it for as long as he could. "But I still would have expected you to tell me," he pouted.

"Arg!" Draco growled.

Harry just laughed again. He was in too good a mood for *anything* to knock him out of it.

"So we got in this carriage and went flying around London, doing some sight-seeing and then we headed over the countryside to this *big* bank of clouds. We went through them and..."

"Castle in the Sky?" Draco yelped, sitting up abruptly. "Dad took you to Castle in the Sky?"

"Yeah," Harry sighed in happy remembrance. "Have you ever been?"

Draco shook his head. "Dad won't even tell me how to get there until I'm eighteen. This sucks."

"No, that would be me," Harry said sotto-voiced.

"What did you say?"

Harry blushed. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Anyway," he quickly changed the subject. "That place is unbelievable. All marble and crystal on the outside, and the inside is just as gorgeous. The food was wonderful and the band played all night long. We'd been dancing for a couple of hours when Lucius asked if I wanted to stay the night. The room was spectacular, it was like sleeping on a cloud in the middle of the sky, and I mean that literally. As for what else happened, I don't kiss and tell."

"That's quite alright," Draco said hastily. "There are some things I really just don't need to know."

"Oh! I know something you *do* want to know," Harry informed him.

"What's that?" Draco asked, almost fearfully because of the look of undisguised glee in Harry's eyes.

"What's going to happen to the Dursleys," Harry caroled.

"Ooh, ooh, tell, tell!" Draco started bouncing on the bed like an overly excited four year old. "Do we get to torture them? Do we, do we?"

"Only a little, physically," Harry grinned. "But a whole lot mentally."

"That's not as good as torturing them physically," Draco pouted. "They should get hurt."

"Did I say they wouldn't be?" Harry smirked. "I just said that *we* wouldn't be hurting them physically."

"So what *are* we doing?" Draco asked, interested again.

"Well, first of all, Lucius is buying Uncle Vernon's company, and then he's giving it to me."

"What are you going to do with a Muggle company?"

"For the moment, just make Uncle Vernon sweat. Eventually, I figured we might be able to convert it to making paper and books and the like. We're going to need a company of some sort if we plan on producing significant amounts of TiP products. Right now however, I'll let Uncle Vernon keep working there... as long as he does what I tell him.

"As for Aunt Petunia, she's proudest of her house and how *normal* everything is. While Lucius and I are dealing with them, I want you and Severus to change that. There should be garden gnomes and exotic, preferably biting, plants in her garden, strange colors that can't be painted over on the front of the house, imps and gremlins given free reign on the inside and all of it spelled so that only the Dursleys can see it."

"Dudley is going to be given a potion so that everything he eats makes him sick. Maybe that way he'll finally lose some weight."

"It's still not enough," Draco pouted.

"Did I say that would be all?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "While you're messing around at the house, Severus will be setting a spell on the beds. Every night when they go to sleep, they will dream a day in the life of Harry Potter. As Harry Potter. They will feel everything I felt on those days, everything. Every bruise, every hunger pain, every feeling of worthlessness, all of it. Any physical pains will last through the day as phantom pains. It will end, only when they ask for forgiveness, and mean it."

"What if they never do?"

"Then they are going to have a very bad time for a very long time." Harry shrugged. He knew that all three of the others would have preferred more hands-on pain, but he didn't want the people he cared for to become so much like the people that hadn't cared for him. And yes, he knew about Lucius and Severus being Death Eaters, but it hadn't been personal. Maybe it made him a bad person, but he wanted bad things to happen to them, he just didn't want it to be his fault and letting Severus, Lucius and even Draco do what they wanted to do would be his fault.

"Well, it doesn't sound too bad," Draco said. "Just tell me what I can do to help."

"I'm happy with it, and that's really all that matters, don't you think?"

"You're happy with a lot right now, aren't you?"

"Let's just say the day started out very, very well," Harry answered with a secretive smile.

TBC...

AN: (1) was a handjob with finger inserted, (2) was a blowjob.


	18. Chapter 48, 49 and 50

Neither of the animals mentioned here belongs to me. One is courtesy of Andre Norton, the other was created by Alan Dean Foster. If you don't know which is which... shame on you ^_^.

Part 48/?

A house elf popped in before anymore could be said. "Mr. Ron Weasley here to see Mistress Jade," the elf squeaked.

"Thank you, Moppy," Harry sat up. "Show him up please."

"Yes, Mistress Jade, Moppy will be happy to show Mr. Ron Weasley up." The house elf popped out once more and minutes later, a stomping sound was coming from the corridor.

Harry sat up. "I wonder what's wrong, he's obviously not happy."

"Is he ever?" Draco groaned, moving off of the bed and onto one of the chairs nearby.

Ron stomped into the room and then stopped and stared for a moment. He'd seen Harry as Jade before, but it still shocked him to see how comfortable, not to mention how nice, his friend looked in a cute blouse and shorts set. He shook it off, he was here on a mission.

"Would you care to explain this?" he bit out, throwing down a copy of the Daily Prophet on the bed.

Harry picked it up, not having had time to look at it yet this morning, only to look in surprise. There, on the front page, was the interim Minister of Magic and a black haired, green-eyed girl wearing a green velvet dress, dancing.

'MINISTER MALFOY'S NEW LOVE INTEREST' the headline screamed. He read quickly through the article. It wasn't anything particularly bad; nothing they cared whether it got out or not. He looked older than sixteen, and since Lucius looked younger than he was, no one picked up on the difference in their ages. And of course, no one had any idea who he was. No one except the boy in front of him that is. He didn't think they needed to put down that they had spent the night, but at least they hadn't had cameras in the room.

"That's you, isn't it?" Ron growled. "Tell me this isn't true. Tell me you were there to try to catch a Death Eater or something. Just don't tell me the boyfriend you wouldn't tell us about is Lucius bloody Malfoy!"

"So you want me to lie?"

"If that's what it takes, yes!"

"Okay," Harry shrugged. "Lucius isn't my boyfriend. Do you feel better now?"

Ron glared. "Not particularly. How could you do this? He's a Malfoy! He's a Death Eater! He's old!"

"He's gorgeous. He's sexy. He's experienced. And I love him," Harry answered back easily. "He loves me too, and in case you're wondering how I know he's not just playing around with me, I asked him under truth spell."

"Arg!" Ron yelled.

"Ron, why are we having this conversation again?" Harry said tiredly. "It's exactly the same one as when you found out Draco and I were friends or that I thought of Severus as my father. You know Slytherins aren't the root of all evil. I don't expect you to become best friends. But I do expect you to respect my choices."

"I have!" Ron growled, pacing. "I respected your choices when it came to the ferret. I respected your choices when it came to the greasy git. This on top of all that is just a little much to take!"

"It's my choice, my life." Harry's voice was hard and implacable.

"But it's wrong! And you're just going to get hurt!"

"Hey!" Draco spoke up for the first time to become part of the conversation. "My father is not going to hurt him. And if he does, you can join Severus and me at getting revenge on him."

"Actually, all three of you can just *back off*!" Harry yelled. "I can take care of myself and my own relationship, thank you very much!"

"Yeah, right," Ron scoffed. "And what are you going to do when 'Mione or Zabini find out?"

"They already know," Draco said off-handedly.

"They WHAT?" Ron and Harry yelled in synchronized shock.

Draco raised one brow. "Well, let's see. Blaise is kissing you when my father comes in and proceeds to send a death glare at him. You leave with him and come back looking freshly kissed and a little mussed. He figured that out fairly quickly," he grinned. "He was having a panic attack practically the whole rest of the time he was there, sure that Dad was going to kill him slowly for daring to touch what was his. As for Granger, she heard us talking while you were getting changed."

"See!" Ron spoke, fixating on one part of what Draco had said. "He said that Malfoy would kill Zabini for touching what was his. He just thinks about you as a possession."

"There's a difference between being a possession and being possessive. Yes, Lucius can be very possessive, but he can also be very protective. Besides, I don't mind him being possessive. I like it that he feels that strongly about me."

"You're impossible!" Ron ranted.

"Thank you," Harry answered easily. "I try." He was frowning slightly as he looked down, away from both of the others' gazes.

"What's the matter?" Ron sneered. "Things not as good as you're trying to make me think?"

Harry looked up in surprise. "Actually," he grinned. "I was just trying to decide if I should paint my toenails or not. I think I should, they're looking kind of bare and I was planning on wearing sandals this afternoon. What do you think?"

Draco burst out laughing at the flabbergasted look on Ron's face. "Get over it Weasley. You're not going to change his mind. Trust me, others have tried. Just accept it and go on, there's nothing else you can do."

Ron plopped down in a chair to sulk.

"Hey Ron, do you think your mother would mind if we relocate some of your garden gnomes?" Harry asked after he had finished with one foot. He had called over the pot of nail polish and started painting when Ron had settled into his sulk.

Ron was surprised into answering. "Garden gnomes? Why would Malfoy need garden gnomes?"

"I think Aunt Petunia really needs some gnomes in her garden," Harry answered as he switched feet.

"Oh, well if they're for your *aunt's* garden, how could we possibly say no?" Ron grinned evilly. Draco found himself surprised at how well the expression sat on the freckled face.

"You'll have to help him catch them, I don't think he's ever done that before," Harry suggested, finishing up that foot and starting on his hands. The left hand went fine, but when he tried to do the right one he ended up growling. "Draco, come do this for me, you've got steady hands," he ordered.

Draco sighed as he walked over and settled onto the bed taking the nail polish and starting to work carefully.

Ron chuckled at the sight of their main rival being ordered around by Harry. A knock came at the door.

"Come in," Harry called out, being careful not to move his hand.

Lucius walked in, spying the newspaper on the bed and how close his son was sitting to his lover. He only commented on one of them though. "I see you've seen it."

"It could be worse," Harry answered as Draco finished and he stood up, walking easily into Lucius' arms and accepting a kiss. "They don't know who I am, or my age, so there's nothing really worrisome in there."

Ron's face was a picture. It combined disgust at seeing his friend kiss a Malfoy, and disbelief that the Malfoy was kissing back so gently. It really looked like they cared for each other. Malfoy must be a very good actor. However, if Ron tried to get his friend to choose between himself and the Death Eater, he had the feeling he wouldn't like the response he got. All he

could do was be there for his friend when the inevitable happened and he got hurt. *Then* he could make the bastard pay.

"You have to go into work, don't you?" Harry said understandingly.

"I'm afraid so. They're going to have questions, and I need to be there to answer them."

"Tell them your private life is none of their business, and they can meet your girlfriend at the ball," Harry suggested.

Lucius chuckled. "I probably will. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Harry nodded easily. "I know your work is important, and I don't have a problem with it. Not as long as you remember to come back every once in a while, and get in touch when you can't."

Lucius dropped another kiss on Harry's ever waiting lips. "I'll try to be home before you go to bed, all right? And I will remember to call if something comes up and I can't. In the meantime, Draco can show you, and your friend," for the first time acknowledging Weasley's presence, "the stables and kennels. Oh, and Severus sent this by owl this morning." He handed over a letter.

Harry looked at it in surprise before opening it. His face blushed bright red as he read.

"What's it say?" came from the direction of the other two teenagers.

"He says," Harry began. "That I'm not allowed to move into Lucius' rooms without a promise ring at the very least."

Lucius smiled secretively. "I'll take that under advisement."

All three boys' eyes were wide in shock as Lucius walked out the door.

Part 49/?

"What did he mean by that?" Ron finally asked.

"I'm not sure." Harry admitted. "But I can hope. Come on, I need to get out of here and Draco promised to show us the animals."

"I promised?" Draco asked sarcastically. "I don't remember promising anything. It seems to me that my father just decided I was going to."

"And you're going to go against him?" Ron scoffed.

Before Draco could respond to that and they got so busy arguing that they never got outside, Harry decided to interfere. "Please, Drake, please" he pleaded, pouted and used his best version of puppy dog eyes. Draco caved immediately. Those eyes hadn't gotten a lot of use, since Harry hadn't had a lot of people that would respond, but somehow that just made them more dangerous.

"Fine," he sighed deeply. "Put on your shoes and we'll go."

Harry cheered as he ran to get his sandals. "Let's go," he said seconds later as he headed out the door.

"Do you ever forget he's a boy?" Ron said in a thoughtful voice as he watched Harry's rear in those shorts bounce out the door.

"Occasionally," Draco admitted as his eyes were stuck to the same place.

"Your father would kill me if he knew I was thinking that Harry had a nice arse, wouldn't he?" Ron said in the same tone of voice.

"He'd kill both of us," Draco agreed. "How about we just don't tell him."

Ron nodded, he could agree to that.

"Are you two coming, or are you going to stand up there talking about my ass all day?" Harry yelled up the stairs, fighting his own blush. You learned such interesting things with eavesdropping spells.

The blonde and redhead both blushed as they headed downstairs and Draco lead them outside without another word.

It became almost immediately clear to Harry why he didn't know about the stables. Every other time, although he hadn't realized it at the time, they had headed to the front or off to the right. This time they headed to the left and around to the back of the manor. Even after they got to the back of the house they still had to walk for almost ten minutes before finally reaching the stables. Behind the stables were corrals and that was where most of the riding animals could be found. Harry stopped. "Hippogriffs?"

"Why yes, I believe they are hippogriffs. The giant would be so proud of you." Draco said snarkily. He bowed to the hippogriffs as they came up to them.

"If you have hippogriffs, than what was that whole thing about in third year?" Ron seemed to have picked up Harry's thoughts. "You almost had Buckbeak killed."

"I didn't want him killed," Draco protested. "Father was going to get permission to take him away to do it and he would have ended up here. We only have females right now, and we needed a male so we could breed them."

Harry reached up and whapped him across the back of the head to Ron's delight. "Do you have any idea what we had to do to get him out of there?" he growled. "Of course, if he hadn't been there we would have had a much harder time getting Sirius out, but that's not the point."

"It's not my fault you were always thinking the worst of me, now was it?" Draco shrugged.

Harry and Ron looked at him in astonishment. "Yes, it was," they said in unison before moving on.

The next corral held the small pegasi herd. "Oh," Harry whispered in delight. Even Ron had to agree the winged horses were beautiful and the colt was adorable with the oversized wings he had yet to grow into.

"The stallion is Thunder," Draco told them, holding out a hand with a carrot to whichever approached. "The mares are Cumulus and Cirrus and the colt... well it seems the house elves named it Puffy."

"Puffy?" Ron spoke up in disbelief.

"Yes, because clouds are puffy," Draco drawled. "At least they didn't name him Fluffy."

"Of course not," Harry scoffed. "After all, that's the name of a giant three headed dog."

Draco looked at him as if he were insane.

"I'll explain later. Can you ride these?" Harry asked wistfully.

Draco shook his head. "Not really. You can't put too much pressure on the muscles that move the wings if you want them to be able to fly, so no sitting there. Well, you could as long as you put a featherweight spell on yourself. Still, if I'm going to fly, I'll use my own wings. If I'm going to ride, I'm going to ride them," he pointed to the next corral which held several large black horses. "Some say that these are descended from nightmares, others say they're part demon. I've never understood why. The stallions, admittedly are mean and difficult to handle, but only if they're raised wild. The mares tend to be much gentler, as well as any stallions raised from birth without any of the violent stallions around. The Keplian does have to agree to be ridden though, you can't just decide to ride one."

"Keplian?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that's what this type of horse is called. They're very fast and can keep going for a long time. If their eyes are blue you can ride them, if they're red, stay far away."

"Will you teach me to ride while I'm here?" Harry asked softly.

"Sure," Draco shrugged. "We'll ask one of the gentler mares if they'll let you ride. If they don't want you on, you're probably not going to get on, but if they do want you on, it's very unlikely you will fall off. But that's for later. Come on, we have more to see."

He led the way through a small garden when Harry suddenly stopped. "What's that?" he asked, cocking his head slightly.

"What?" Ron asked worriedly.

"It... kind of sounds like a snake... but... there's something else..." Harry wandered forward, stepping carefully through the garden, straight towards a tree in the back. There. Wrapped around one of the branches was a snake with a green and red diamond pattern in its scales.

/_Hello_/ Harry hissed.

The snake raised its head and seemed to be looking deeply into Harry's eyes and soul.

/_Hello?_/ Harry hissed again.

*/_**Hello**_/* the snake finally answered. Still, there was something different in its voice, something *more*. The snake raised more of its body, until it had completely separated from the branch it had been lying on.

Harry rushed forward. It looked as if the snake was going to fall and he suddenly, desperately, didn't want that to happen. But there was no danger. As the snake left the branch, blue and pink wings unfolded from its back and the snake was suddenly hovering in front of Harry who was standing there, watching in delight.

"Harry!" Ron suddenly hissed desperately. "Get away from it!"

Draco, who had been walking ahead, suddenly realized he was alone and turned back. His normal composure was completely stripped away as he saw the same thing Ron did. "Harry, back away from it slowly." He said, trying not to startle either the human or the snake. He pulled out his wand, but couldn't think of a spell that would get the snake without harming Harry, or allowing the snake time to strike.

"Why?" Harry asked in complete unconcern. There was something about this flying snake that made him believe he was safe. /_They seem to think you're dangerous._/

*_**/I am, warm one**_/* the snake responded. */_**But not to you. I will stay with you. I like the way you feel.**_/*

/_The way I feel?_/

*/_**You're warm, like a sunbath in the spring/**_* the snake responded. It's eyes seemed to take in the other two boys, standing back, scared out of they're minds. */_**The sunlight one is too hot, always burning, the moonlight one is too cool, I don't like to be cold/**_* With that the snake flew closer and as Ron and Draco shouted denial, settled around Harry's neck and shoulders.

Harry had turned to his friends, trying to figure out what the snake was talking about. Finally, it hit him. /_You're talking about their emotions, aren't you? Ron's hot tempered, while Draco is too controlled._/

*/_**If that is how you wish to say it,**_/* the snake agreed easily.

/_That's why your voice sounds strange to me,_/ Harry realized. /_You're not just speaking in Parseltongue, but part of it's coming into my head. Are you reading my mind?_/

*/_**What do you mean 'read minds'? I feel you and I hear you.**_/*

Emotions, Harry realized. /_What's your name?_/ Harry asked as he turned to walk towards his pale faced friends.

The answer he got was more pictures than words, something close to */**she who flicks her tail at what her elders believe/***

Harry laughed. /_A rebel, huh? May I call you 'Flick'? The other is a bit difficult for me._/

*/_**It is acceptable. And what may I call you, warm one?/**_*

/_My name is Harry,_/ he answered.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Draco said urgently.

"Her name if Flick," Harry said happily.

"Harry, that's an *Alaspinian minidrag*!" Ron hissed.

Harry tilted his head. "Have we come across her kind in Care of Magical Creatures? I don't recall talking about anything like her, and I know we haven't seen her."

"Are you kidding? Not even Hagrid would bring something that dangerous to class," Ron's voice had that strangled quality of trying not to yell when it's all he really wanted to do.

"Harry, an Alaspinian minidrag spits out an acid that can burn through anything and will kill a grown man in less than a minute." Draco tried to explain.

"She won't hurt me," Harry scoffed. "She wants to stay with me."

"You can't bring something like that around others! It's dangerous!" Ron reiterated.

/_If you want to go with me, you've got to promise not to attack anyone,_/ Harry told Flick.

*/_**I will not harm anyone who does not threaten you/**_* Flick responded.

Harry thought about it for a long moment. /_Only if I say so or I'm in *immediate* danger of death_,/ he finally conceded. /_I do not want you to kill someone that's only playing around./_/

*/I_** would know/**_* Flick answered, unhappy at being doubted.

"It will be okay," Harry told the others. "She won't attack unless I'm really threatened, and she'll know when it's real. She wants to stay with me, and I'm not going to tell her no."

Part 50/?

Harry was talking to Flick later that night when there was am knock on the door.

"Come in," he called.

"Good evening, Harry," Lucius responded as he walked in.

"Lucius! You're home!" Harry jumped to his feet and ran over to say hello.

"I said I would be, didn't I? I'm just sorry I couldn't make it for dinner." Lucius apologized, as he hugged his boyfriend. He looked down as he felt a movement that certainly had not come from the boy in his arms. Not unless his skin had suddenly decided to move on its own. He caught a glimpse of green and red scales in a diamond pattern. "Who's your friend?" he asked lightly as his mind tried to remember what kind of snake had that pattern.

"This is Flick," Harry introduced. /_Flick, this is my mate, Lucius._/

Flick launched herself upwards, pleated wings unfolding to let her hover in front of the man whose only reaction was a slight paling of his already pale skin and a complete stillness of the body. He had suddenly realized exactly what kind of snake that was.

Flick flew around the older man, tasting his emotions as she circled. */_**This man is dangerous, ruthless, he will be a good protector for your nest. He is also protective and caring. He feels like a good mate. Too cool for my taste though. Is he of the same nest as the moonlight one?**_/*

/_He's not cool when it counts,_/ Harry answered naughtily. /_And the moonlight one is his child from his first mate_./

Lucius listened to the hissing in bemusement. He'd heard Parseltongue before, many times. Voldemort knew it disconcerted his followers and was not above using that fact. This was entirely different. The hissed syllables coming from Harry's mouth seemed to send a shudder of awareness down the spine of anyone listening. The awareness that there was something more in this world than even wizards tended to dream of. It was not entirely an unpleasant situation. Nor were the sounds themselves unpleasant. From Harry's lips the sibilant syllables had none of the aura of evil that was so prevalent in Voldemort's voice. This was light, pleasing to the ear and yet, somehow otherwordly.

"She approves," he grinned as Flick left with one last message to Harry. "She said she's going to go see about dinner, because matings don't need to be witnessed by others of the nest."

"That was polite of her. Where did she come from?" Lucius was still partially in shock.

"I found her out in the garden between the stables and the kennels," Harry told him.

"We had an Alaspinian minidrag on the grounds and didn't even know it?"

Harry nodded. "She's been here about a week, waiting for me."

"Waiting for you?" Lucius parroted.

"It seems minidrags are empathic, they can feel what others are feeling. Most minidrags prefer to live wild, but every once in a while one is born who wanders until they find a sentient being that... well, feels right to them. It's very rare that it's a human though, forest elves are the most common partners for minidrags. Flick could feel me in the Manor and could tell that we would match well." He smirked. "You of the moonlight nest are too cold, she doesn't like the cold."

"And what is the moonlight nest?" Lucius asked as he settled down on the settee with Harry next to him.

"She calls Draco the moonlight one, and asked if you were of the same nest, but I explained that he was in your nest from a previous mate. Ron's the sunlight one, and he's too hot and burns too much. He's also two rooms away, because *someone* brought him here and then forgot to leave a way for him to get back home."

Lucius blinked. He had forgotten that, hadn't he? He shrugged. It was only a Weasley, though he wouldn't say that out loud in these circumstances, and he could be sent home just as easily the next day.

"What did you tell them?" Harry asked as he snuggled in.

"Exactly as expected. It was none of their business, and they didn't want to *make* it their business. I believe they understood me."

"I'm sure they did," Harry laughed. "Now are you ready to tell me what's been on your mind since you came in here?"

Lucius smiled in self-deprecation. "I never could fool you, could I?"

Harry just smiled. "If you're going to try that look, you really need a lot more practice."

Lucius smiled slightly. "I'll take that under consideration."

"You know," Harry said consideringly, "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you're nervous."

"But you do know better, correct?"

"Oh, of course, the great Lucius Malfoy is never nervous, which does a lot to explain why you're still beating around the bush of whatever it was you wanted to say but still haven't actually said."

Even that didn't get more than a slight smile out of the older man. Not nervous... yeah right.

Lucius breathed deeply and then spoke. "Harry James Potter, would you do me the honor of accepting my pledge and promise?" He held out a small jewelry casket which, when opened, contained two beautifully made rings, one with a square cut emerald and the other with a smoky pale blue sapphire. He put it down on the table and then held up his hand to stop Harry from speaking. "I don't want your answer just yet. Take your time to think about it. If you agree, you'll need to come up with a list of promises, just as some people write their own wedding vows." He stood up and headed towards the door before anything else could be said.

Harry's voice however, caught him before he could leave and the question was so off-the-wall that it stopped him in his tracks. "What's your middle name?"

Lucius turned to look at him in complete bafflement. "My middle name? Ares. Why?"

Harry stood up. In that moment, he wasn't a pretty boy dressed in short shorts and a blouse, he was the defeater of the worst scourge the wizarding world had seen in fifty years. "So I can say this...

"Lucius Ares Malfoy! Sit your butt down, now!"

TBC...

Perfect place to end it don't you think? ^_^


	19. Chapter 51, 52 and 53

I have what's basically a full time job right now, even though it's still a temp, so it's taking a great deal of my time up. Thankfully, for some reason, most of the reformatting had already been done on this section, I only had to remove a part in chapter 51, and reformat chapter 53, so it didn't take nearly as much time as it usually does. Shadow Lover (the Gundam Wing fic I was posting at the same time as this) is completed, so I will be moving on... I'll probably post my one and only Prince of Tennis fic Thursday, then start on my Sentinel fics after that. I have yet to decide if I'm going to start posting the incompleted fics I'm still … sortof working on.

Part 51/?

Lucius blinked, stared, and sat. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes, actually. Quite a bit." Harry was pacing in front of the settee as he tried to put his thoughts into coherency. He turned to look seriously at Lucius. "You know that, regardless of what Severus says, a promise ring has nothing to do with me moving into your bedroom, right?"

"You don't believe I'm asking this just so you will be in my bed every night, do you?" Lucius said in disbelief.

"Actually, I was thinking the other way around. You don't need to give me a promise ring in order to have me in your bed every night. You just have to ask."

Lucius shook his head. "That's not why I'm doing this. I honestly want to."

"Then we need to talk about it. Not simply have you dump it in my lap and then run." Harry sat down in a chair across from Lucius. "Why this way?"

"Do you mean why a promise ceremony instead of an engagement or marriage?" Lucius asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, I know that part. Thanks to a certain detention Draco and I had last year, I'm aware of the rules against it, stupid as they may be. Why the ceremony at all? I will take your word for it."

Lucius smiled slightly. "I know you would. However, I wished for you to have something concrete to hang onto. Something you could reach out and touch if necessary."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. Why now?"

Lucius tilted his head inquiringly.

"I'm not going back to school for three weeks. We just made love for the first time last night, and I had really been hoping for a repeat tonight," he said in an aside. "Why be so insistent on it *now*? It's not to get me into your bed. I seriously doubt you were suddenly overcome by an irresistible impulse because of your overwhelming love for me. Not" he held up his hand to stop Lucius from responding. "Not that I doubt you do love me, but I don't believe you would allow yourself to be overcome like that. The only other reason I can think of would be political expediency because of that article."

Lucius tensed slightly. "You do not really believe I asked you because of my political aspirations?"

"Why shouldn't I believe that? You came in and practically threw it at me before leaving as fast as you could. Now either you're a coward, which I really don't believe, you're insecure, which I also have trouble believing, or you're trying to get a nasty chore out of the way as quickly as possible."

Lucius closed his eyes for a second. "I really messed this up, didn't I?"

"You came awfully close," Harry admitted without giving an inch.

"First of all, I asked now because there *are* only three weeks left before you leave. A promise ceremony such as this, which is technically more like a handfasting, requires a minimum of three weeks to set up. The rings themselves require that much time to get them ready for the necessary spells and then to set the spells inside. Severus' note this morning reminded me that if we were going to actually have the ceremony before you leave for school the decision had to be made immediately."

"So he was actually saying we weren't supposed to sleep together during this summer?" Harry asked humorously.

Lucius nodded with a smile. "Secondly, as to why I, as you said dumped it into your lap and ran. I didn't want to influence you. I also wished for you to have the chance to think it through completely and if I had stayed longer I doubt you would have gotten that chance."

Harry nodded again, but the severe look didn't fade from his face. If anything, it got stronger. "Actually, that leads straight back to why I made you stay in the first place." He got up and started pacing. "I know that during the past several weeks, I've been coasting. I've enjoyed being able to do so. I've been happy, laid-back, even a little flighty at times. That doesn't mean it's me. I've been getting the feeling lately that you feel it's your job to make the decisions for the two of us. Maybe because I'm young, maybe because I've been dressing as a girl, I don't know. Like this promise ceremony stuff. You decided to just dump it on me, and you thought you could influence me. Do you really believe I'm that weak minded? There is one thing I think I need to make clear right now before any problems come up. At no point, in any vows I make, promise or wedding, will I use the word obey. In the bedroom is one thing, in real life is something entirely different."

"Do you think I don't realize that?" Lucius asked with a laugh. "I'm not sure what I've done to give you the impression I expect you to obey me. I am not a fool, as I'm sure you're aware. You are your own man and that is one of the things that interested me in the first place. If I wanted a yes man, I'd go for Crabbe or Goyle."

Harry stared at him. "No, you wouldn't."

"True," Lucius admitted. "I'd want my lover to have at least some modicum of looks."

Harry laughed and settled back down, most of the tenseness gone from his frame. "Okay, so maybe I'm seeing something that's not there. I do, however, believe that we need to talk about the vows for the promise ceremony, because of course I'm going to say yes. We've talked about having children together, I don't think a promise ceremony is too much to ask."

"Why do you feel we need to talk about our vows?" Lucius wondered.

"Because, what I would consider promising on my own, and what you need me to promise might well be two different things. I need to know what's important to you going into this, and I think you need to know what assurances I need from you."

Lucius nodded. It made sense after all, and it was true. "I thought I would promise to love you and you alone for the rest of our lives," his eyes intent behind his lashes. He needed to know if they were thinking the same way over this.

Harry was. "You know I wouldn't accept that," he shook his head. "Number one, you don't love only me. Number two, I'm hoping in a couple of years that will be even more true, and number three you can't promise something like that."

"Why can't I love only you?" Lucius asked.

"Because you already love Draco as well as Severus," Harry answered easily. "And hopefully we'll eventually have children and you'll love them as well. Will they be blondes, do you think?"

"If they're boys they will," Lucius answered off-handedly. "What makes you think I'm in love with Severus?"

"I didn't say *in* love, I said love. You love Severus the same way that I love Draco or Ron and Hermione, like your best friend or sibling. And why only the boys?"

"Why can't I promise something like that?" Lucius continued. "And the blonde hair is linked to the male gene in the Malfoy family. Just like the first born will always be male."

Harry's eyes were dancing with enjoyment. He was having as much fun as Lucius with the verbal byplay. "You can't promise to love me for the rest of your life. There are no guarantees. You can promise to try though."

"What do you want me to promise?"

"What do you think I need?" Harry asked. He grinned. "Let's see how well you know me."

Lucius looked at him for a long moment, thinking. "Honesty," he said after that single moment.

"Correct," Harry said softly. "I need to know you're not going to lie to me. I don't need to know everything you're doing, and I will accept that there are things you can't or even won't talk to me about. Just don't lie to me."

"I can agree to that, if you will do the same," Lucius agreed.

Harry nodded. That was something he could promise easily. "I also need you to be faithful. I know it's probably a lot to ask with me being gone for most of the year, but it's important to me."

"Why would you believe that to be a lot to ask?" Lucius asked in surprise.

"You told me yourself that you've had numerous lovers, most of which you had while married to Narcissa. Why should I believe you can be faithful? Especially since you broke your wedding vows."

"No, I didn't." Lucius told him. "Fidelity was never vowed between either myself or Narcissa."

"Wouldn't it be kind of understood?" Harry said in confusion.

"Not in the case of arranged marriages. Our marriage was actually fairly common for purebloods. We slept together once for an heir, and after that took our own lovers. The only fidelity clause in our wedding contract, if you want to call it that, was the promise that we would not have children by anyone else, thereby threatening Draco's place as heir."

"That's..." Harry began. "Messed up. How can you lot live like that? I'm surprised the wizarding world hasn't completely disappeared by now, if most of the pureblood families are like that."

"Why would we? We always make sure there is a suitable heir, and there are enough families that do not have the first born male blood spell that there are usually enough females of the correct families for the next generation."

"ARG!" Harry yelled, before settling down and rolling his eyes. "Do you want to have children with me?" he asked patiently.

"Yes, actually, I do," Lucius admitted.

"Even though they could be considered potential threats to Draco's inheritance?" he pushed.

"He would still be first born," Lucius replied.

"So why do you want more from me, but not from Narcissa?" Harry asked patiently.

"Because I love you, and *you* want children, not to mention the idea of little yous wandering around is quite a nice thought. The idea of little Narcissas wandering around is frankly sickening."

"Then don't you think that just maybe, one of the ways to increase the number of children around is to let your children marry for love?" Harry asked. "*Regardless* of who their partner is?"

"Are you saying that Draco is interested in a mud...Muggleborn? It's not Granger, is it?"

Harry sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. And no, I don't believe Draco is interested in *anyone* at the moment, and Hermione's with Ron, remember?"

Lucius hid a smile. Sometimes it was ridiculously easy.

"What do you need from me?" Harry asked, getting back onto the original topic.

"Honesty, fidelity, I already have your love. What else is necessary?" Lucius said chivalrously.

"What? You don't want sex on demand?" Harry kidded.

"Are you saying I don't already have it?" Lucius smirked.

"Well, you haven't tried anything since you got in here," Harry pouted.

"And when exactly have I had time?" Lucius asked, getting up and stalking forward. "Why did you think I said you wouldn't have had time to think and would have been distracted if I hadn't left? I had every intention of distracting you if I didn't leave immediately."

"But you've been in here for ages," Harry mock whined, getting up himself and circling behind the chair. He kept backing away as Lucius stalked forward, until the older man suddenly pounced, pushing Harry back on the settee he hadn't been aware was just behind him. Harry kissed him hard and squirmed around until he managed to get on top. The time for talking was most definitely up.

Later, after they were finished and cuddling against each other, a fluttering of wings was heard.

Harry looked up. /_Hello Flick_./ he muttered to the minidrag who was looking down at them from the back of the settee. He noticed with interest the jerk Lucius' flaccid cock gave at the sound of Parseltongue but was too tired to do anything about it.

*/_**When will the child come?**_/* Flick asked interestedly, basking in the emotions between her partner and his mate.

/_What child?/_/ Harry asked in surprise. Lucius sat up and cleaned them up while Harry talked to his familiar.

*/_**You mated, doesn't that mean a child?/**_* Flick asked.

/_Not all mating ends in a child,_/ Harry explained. /_Especially not the kind we just did. We're not going to have a child for several years._/

*/_**Then why do you mate if you are not ready?/**_*

/_Because it's very enjoyable. Humans do not have to be in heat to mate, and do not only mate to have children. We mate because we love each other and want to prove that physically and because it feels very good._/ Harry stretched and turned to look at his lover who was watching him with an enquiring expression. "Sorry about that, she wanted to know when the child would come. Sounds like minidrags only mate when they're ready to have dragonlings."

"So I need to get used to her in our bedroom?" Lucius asked humorously.

"Nope," Harry answered. "I'm not supposed to be in your bedroom yet," he grinned. "You should expect her in mine though. She's got good manners though, and will leave us alone when we really need it."

"I should be thankful for small mercies then," Lucius murmured.

"I would be thankful to be in bed right now," Harry hinted.

Lucius laughed as he swept Harry up into his arms and carried him over to the bed. With careful hands he peeled the rest of Harry's clothes off of his compliant body and settled him under the covers. When he started to move off, Harry sat up. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to stay here?"

"Do you want me to?" Lucius asked.

"Of course. I liked sleeping next to you, and I loved waking up." Harry smiled as Lucius undressed and slipped into bed next to him. "There's only one problem."

"What's that?" Lucius asked as he pulled Harry into his arms.

"I had been almost asleep, but you made me wake up by not getting in next to me. That means it's your job to make me sleepy again," Harry grinned as he moved onto Lucius and started kissing him again.

Part 52/?

Breakfast the next morning was just the three boys. Lucius had left early, but Harry didn't mind too much since he'd woken him up before he left.

"Draco?" Harry asked. "What can you tell me about a promise ceremony?"

"He asked?" Draco asked in delight.

"Yep, last night," Harry said happily.

"That's wonderful," Draco smiled.

"Hold on!" Ron interrupted. "Malfoy asked for a promise ceremony?"

Harry nodded easily.

"So, what? You're not good enough to be engaged to? He obviously just doesn't want you to find someone else while you're at school. Someone your own age." Ron sneered.

Harry and Draco looked at the red-head as if he was crazy before they realized. "Oh, yeah, you didn't have that detention with us, did you?" Draco asked.

"What detention? And what does that have to do with anything?" Ron asked in confusion.

"One detention we had with Snape last year," Harry explained. "He said that if we were going to be breaking school rules we'd better know what the rules are. We spent five days going through the school rule books and writing them in our own words. One of the rules we found that surprised us were the rules on marriage and engagements. Marriage is not allowed at Hogwarts. It's said that it's because there's no places for married students, which is ridiculous, because there's plenty. The rule about engagements is simple, no student may be engaged to someone who is not a student. Period. What that ends up meaning is that a student may only get engaged to someone in their Year, because if your fiance is even a year younger than once you graduate she's no longer allowed to be engaged to you."

"Actually it's not that irrational." Draco disagreed. "I've been thinking about it, and finally asked my father. There is a logical explanation for the rules. Remember when your magic got out of control those times you were really angry last year?"

"Yeah, so?" Harry shrugged.

"Hogwarts has wards up that can contain problems like that, after all it's been a school for teenagers for a long time. However, if you were married, or even engaged to someone *not* at Hogwarts, the magic could flood down the bond between the two of you and explode from your husband or fiance in a place where there are no wards and do a lot of damage. It really is a safety measure."

"Besides, engagements are automatically noticed by both the Ministry and the major papers." Draco added. "I suppose if they got engaged the Muggle way, no one would notice, but that's really what the promise ceremony does." He turned to Harry. "The difference between a promise ceremony and an engagement is mostly where the magic goes. An engagement or wedding, binds the magic of the two together. In a promise ceremony the magic is bound to tokens instead of each other. Promise ceremonies are also used for things like major contracts. If Father had been interested in arranging a marriage for me, than he and Mother as well as the parents of the girl would take part in a promise ceremony."

"Why is he so worried about people knowing?" Ron still wouldn't give it up.

"Do you think I do?" Harry asked. "If they found out that Lucius and I were engaged, anyone he was seen with would be scrutinized, which means no more Jade. I am not ready to give her up. Besides, you can't believe the wizarding world would support us."

"What? You think they wouldn't?" Ron asked in surprise. "You're Harry Potter."

"Right," Harry answered. "Which means I'm expected to do exactly what the wizarding world expects. I'm to find a nice girl and settle down. Do I believe they'll turn their backs on me if I don't? You'd better believe it. They've done it often enough." He very carefully didn't say that even Ron had done it on more than one occasion, but from his suddenly paling expression, he was sure that he'd gotten the idea. "So?" Harry turned to Draco. "You never did explain how a promise ceremony works."

"Basically, you say what you promise in front of witnesses and then set the spells in whatever tokens you choose." Draco explained.

"That sounds like a Muggle wedding," Harry said, shocked.

"It's very close from what I understand." Draco agreed. "The only real difference is that there is usually a time period. Arranged marriages usually start with promise ceremonies and perhaps an engagement bond."

"Okay, what are these bonds?" Harry asked.

"An engagement bond simply ties two peoples' magic together. A marriage bond ties two peoples' souls together. Marriage bonds can only exist when there's actual caring, even love but engagement bonds don't require that. Some marriages never get to that point, my father and mother's never did. Your parents did, as did Weasley's. There's no such thing as a divorce in the wizarding world, although engagements can be broken without much of a problem."

"So... he was really asking to marry me?" Harry said softly.

"Pretty much," Draco agreed. "Though you know he's not going to really ask that until you've graduated."

There was silence around the table for several minutes. Draco finally broke it.

"Are you going to promise discretion?" Draco asked. "That way one of the spells on the rings will make sure no one can see them who wasn't there at the ceremony."

"We could," Harry said thoughtfully. "We're going to promise honesty and fidelity."

"Not love?" Ron sneered. "I would have thought with the way you two have been acting that you would be swearing eternal love, or the like."

"He said something about that, but it's silly."

Both boys looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean it's silly?" Draco asked.

"Well the idea that he could love only me for the rest of his life. He can't promise that, no one could. Besides he doesn't love only me."

"You mean he's cheating on you already?" Ron asked.

"Of course not. But he loves Draco, doesn't he? And Severus. He loves him the same way I love the two of you."

Draco groaned and lowered his head into his hands. "There's a world of difference between loving someone and being in love with them. You know that, right?"

"Well of course I do," Harry answered in annoyance.

"You know that Malfoy was talking about the in love kind of love too, don't you?" Ron asked. He might not like the two of them together, but he wasn't going to let his best friend mess it up. He'd leave that up to Malfoy.

"Um, yeah," Harry agreed.

"So why the hell didn't you just say that you loved him back?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Well, he can't say he'll love me forever, what if he doesn't?"

Draco and Ron looked at each other in silent commiseration. They really hadn't expected Harry to be this insecure. Where was this coming from?

"Do you expect to fall out of love with him?" Ron asked.

"No, of course not," Harry said.

"Do you believe he loves you?" Draco asked.

"Yes, I do," Harry answered.

"Do you think you love him more than he loves you?" Ron continued the tag team effort.

Harry thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I really don't."

"Oh, so you're planning on leaving him," Draco stated.

"Where did you get that idea?" Harry growled, eyes flashing with sudden anger.

"If you're not planning on leaving him, and he loves you as much as you love him, than he's not going to leave you. So why won't you believe that he's going to love you forever?"

"Yes, Harry, why won't you?" a soft voice came from behind them and they turned to find Lucius watching Harry intently.

He had started in to work only to remember that he still hadn't sent Ron back to his house so headed back. He had been in hearing distance when the two boys had started the questioning. When he had asked the question the night before, the answer hadn't really bothered him. After all, it was the kind of nitpicking he himself might have used. It was only as he thought about it after Harry had gone to sleep that he wondered if the reason Harry answered that way was because he didn't want him for life. Now it seems he was wrong on both counts.

Harry turned around to look at his lover.

"Why Harry?" Lucius asked again.

"Because nothing lasts forever," Harry said quietly. "Nothing good anyway. It all goes away eventually."

"And why not?" Ron asked. "Voldemort's dead, there's no other big threat. Why can't you have what you want? You deserve anything you wish, *everything* you want."

"I thought you didn't like him?" Harry turned to look at him.

"I don't," Ron responded sturdily, "But I do like you, and if he makes you happy, I know I won't be the only one who will do everything in my power to make sure you two *do* last forever if that's what you want."

Lucius looked at Ron in incredulity. He might have to rethink his ideas about a certain Weasley if he kept making remarks like that.

Harry was also looking at Ron in astonishment, but he had a soft smile on his mouth. Somehow he doubted that he'd ever have to worry about Ron turning his back on him again. "But what if he changes his mind, or something happens?" Harry asked.

"Then we'll bash him over the head and drag him back to you," Draco gave a shark-like grin.

Harry laughed. Ron and Draco looked at each other and shrugged. Why was Harry laughing? They'd do it if necessary.

Lucius smiled at the two boys who seemed to be becoming friends in spite of themselves before turning back to the one that was most important at that moment. "Harry," he said softly, waiting until he looked around. "Have you ever heard me say something I didn't mean?" he asked.

Harry looked at him as he thought. "No," he finally admitted.

"I might have asked you in a hurry, but I would never have asked if I didn't mean it," Lucius stared at Harry until he saw acceptance in his eyes. He considered moving this conversation into another room, away from the prying eyes of his son and Harry's friend, but somehow he didn't think that would go over well. Besides, Harry would have an easier time believing him if the others heard him as well. "I love you, and I don't ever see that changing. If you can't honestly say the same, then maybe we should hold off on this until you can."

"No!" Harry shouted. "I don't want to wait. I love you, I always will!"

"But do you believe that *I'm* not going to change my mind?" Lucius asked softly.

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but hesitated.

"I see," Lucius said, standing back up. "Mr. Weasley, are you ready to go home? I had forgotten you had no way to get back."

"Um... sure," Ron stuttered.

"Lucius, wait!" Harry called out, as Lucius led the red-head out of the room. "Shit!" he shouted as Lucius left without a backward glance. Without thinking he turned and slammed his fist into the nearest wall.

Part 53/?

Ron glared up at Lucius Malfoy as they apparated to a point within walking distance of the Burrow. "How could you just leave him like that?"

"For one thing, you didn't need to be there for that conversation. For another, he needed a moment to think," Lucius lowered himself to explain.

"So you're not going to give up on him?" Ron pushed.

"Mr. Weasley, do you honestly believe that I did not know Harry had issues? I admit, I had not expected this one, although perhaps I should have. If I had wanted someone uncomplicated, we never would have become a couple in the first place. Now, if you are finished wasting my time asking questions you should have been able to figure out for yourself, I need to go tell the Ministry I will not be in today and then get back. Please remember not to tell *anyone* the things you found out on this visit. Including Harry's new pet. Do you understand?" Lucius' voice was dark and hard.

Ron nodded his understanding. He wasn't going to argue with the man. At least not at this particular time. "He might need to talk to someone who's not you," he advised.

"I would not be surprised if my son hasn't already called Severus to come up," Lucius admitted before apparating without another word.

Severus had indeed been called, although not for the reason Lucius had expected.

Draco waited impatiently, holding Harry's arm with almost desperate strength. It had taken only moments for Draco to realize that Harry was no longer cursing because his father had left, but because he'd done more damage than expected to his hand. A quick injury reveal spell, the same one Severus had used on Harry on the night that had started their friendship had shown that he'd actually managed to break one of his fingers, besides the bleeding knuckles. Unfortunately, although Draco would have no trouble brewing a healing potion, the bone had to be set first, and he had never learned that particular skill.

Severus was there in less than two minutes, it only having taken him that long because of the need to find a healing potion he'd made up specially for Harry. Since it had been made with Harry's blood, it would work better for the boy than any other potion he might have. He then used the emblem portkey Lucius had given him many years ago. He had only started carrying it with him again since Harry had moved into the Manor.

He portkeyed into the Manor's study to find Draco looking worried, while Harry just looked angry. "What happened?" he asked, even as he carefully picked up Harry's mangled hand and cast the injury reveal spell on it. The red light showed a break in the third bone of the middle finger.

"I hit the fucking wall, what's it look like?" Harry growled.

Severus blinked. Harry didn't curse often, and physical pain wouldn't be enough to do it. Then again, these injuries could have come in only one of two ways, by having someone he was about to punch, duck and he hit the wall or hitting the wall full force on purpose. Considering Draco was the only person around, it was unlikely Harry had been trying to hit someone.

"And what exactly did the wall do to you?" Severus asked.

"It got in the way," Harry glowered.

"Normally, I'd give you a pain potion for this," Severus growled right back. "But I don't think it'd do you any good right now." Instead he nodded to Draco to get the healing potion ready and quickly and competently pulled the broken bone into position.

Harry didn't make a sound, but that didn't mean that there was no reaction. Severus cursed and moved backward as he was suddenly confronted by two feet of lithe lethality.

/_No Flick!_/ Harry moved immediately between the dangerous snake, and the just as dangerous wizard who already had his wand out. "It's okay, Sev. This is Flick." /_It's okay Flick, this is Sev, he was just fixing my finger._/

*/_**He hurt you**_/* Flick hissed.

/_I hurt myself,_/ Harry answered. /_He was healing it._/

*/_**Why would you do such a thing?/**_*

/_I was angry_./ Harry answered sheepishly.

*/_**At your mate, or his nestling?/**_*

/_At myself._/

*/_**Why?**_/* Flick settled herself down around Harry's neck and sent soothing emotions down the link between them. Harry could feel the tension leaving his muscles.

/_I chased my mate away_./

*/_**Your mate did not seem the type to chase easily.**_/*

"I know, I was stupid," Harry sighed.

*/ "_**No you weren't**_"/* Came from one hissed and three human voices.

He looked up, surprised, to find Lucius had joined Severus and Draco in the room.

"You left," Harry whispered, looking straight at Lucius and ignoring all else.

"I had to return Weasley before his father started to make a nuisance of himself, as well as notify the Ministry that I would not be in today. What did you to yourself?" he asked as he saw Harry's hand. "And why hasn't it been healed by now?"

"Because Sev isn't too sure about Flick yet," Draco grinned. He handed Harry the healing potion and watched as he drank it all. Once it had finished, Lucius used a cleaning charm on his hand, and it was back to being as good as new.

*/_**It does not seem as if your mate ran very far,**_/* Flick said, amusement added to her voice.

/_I guess not,_/ Harry replied absently. /_Why not?/_

*/_**Do I look like your mate? Ask him if you wish to know**_./*

/_But what is he feeling?_/ Harry asked plaintively.

Flick conducted the feelings from the eldest of this nest, to her partner. Harry tried to figure out what they were. The first thing he noticed however, was what there wasn't. There was no pain, no anger. /_Are you sure this is all he's feeling?_/ Harry asked in surprise.

*/_**Of course,**_/* Flick answered, displeased at being doubted.

He went back to trying to analyze what Lucius was feeling. There was an overwhelming feeling of concern. There *was* some unhappiness, but the emotional shading was different than he would have expected although he didn't have enough experience to figure out what that difference was. There was also a feeling that he would have almost sworn was love. But surely that was ridiculous. He knew Lucius had said he loved him, but this overpowering surge that underlay everything else, it couldn't be love, could it?

If a snake could be said to harrumph, this one did.

"Harry," Lucius snapped.

Harry looked up at him, surprised. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"We need to talk, don't you think? And unfortunately, none of the rest of us can understand Parseltongue." Lucius' voice had calmed now that he had Harry's attention.

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry," he whispered, dropping his eyes.

"For what?" Lucius asked.

"What do you mean, for what?" Harry's eyes were up now as he was staring at his lover in surprise.

"Just what I said," Lucius answered, leading the way to the seating area and settling down in his chair. Harry remained staring.

"For not being able to say I trust you, for making you leave," Harry reminded him.

Lucius held out his hand and waited until Harry took it, settling him down on the ottoman in front of his chair and ignoring their three witnesses. "I believed it would be best if you had a couple of minutes to think. Was I incorrect?" he asked, making sure Harry was looking at him. He got his answer when Harry's eyes broke contact as he answered that it was fine.

"I see," Lucius answered easily, inwardly promising himself he would not be doing that again.

"Are you going to cancel the promise ceremony?" Harry whispered.

"Do you want me to?" Lucius asked in return.

"No," Harry answered strongly, and this time his eyes stayed caught in Lucius' blue ones.

Lucius nodded in response. "Then it will go on as scheduled. Severus, can you and Draco make the potion for the rings?"

Severus nodded silently, his eyes still raking over the two and taking in the interactions between them. "Although I have to wonder if it's a good idea if he doesn't trust you," he couldn't help but remark.

"I trust Lucius," Harry responded immediately. "I just... I don't..."

"He doesn't trust fate," Draco butted in when it seemed as if Harry wasn't able to say anything more. Then he frowned as he thought of something. "Hey! Wait a minute!"

Everyone turned to look at him, but his scowling visage was stuck on Harry's. "If you don't trust that anything good will continue to happen to you, what about Severus and me?"

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned in confusion.

"Do you think Severus and I are going to turn on you someday, too?"

Harry flushed guiltily and dropped his eyes which answered that question as well.

"I can't believe that!" Draco was suddenly angry. He got up and stalked out. Harry ran after him.

Lucius and Severus watched as the door slammed behind first the blonde and then the brunette.

"Drink?" Lucius asked as he got up and headed over to the bar.

"Please," Severus sighed. He scowled at his friend. "What happened? And where did that... that..."

"I would think you of all people would recognize an Alaspinian minidrag when you saw it. There are, after all, only three species of flying snake that the world has found. As for what happened..." he handed Severus a glass before settling down himself and went to take a sip. He stopped. "This is safe, isn't it?"

Severus chuckled darkly but refused to answer. Lucius looked at the glass of firewhiskey carefully, but finally set it down untouched.

"As to what happened, I should think that is obvious. I ran across one of Harry's insecurities that I wasn't expecting."

Severus wished he could find a way to blame this mess on Lucius, but unfortunately he couldn't. He had managed to do that a time or two himself. "Just to let you know, in case you haven't figured it out yet, do not leave in the middle of an argument. He will take it the wrong way, every time."

"I got that idea," Lucius admitted.

"You are planning on going through with the promise ceremony, are you not?" Severus asked intently.

"Of course," Lucius agreed. "If we were getting married, than I would probably ask that it be postponed. However, the promise ceremony is only for a year and I think going through with it will reassure him that I have no intention of going anywhere." He decided to change the subject. "Was it just my imagination, or did Flick manage to calm him down when she settled on his shoulder?"

Severus thought back to that moment, and nodded slowly. At the time he had only been thinking about such a dangerous animal close to the one who was essentially his son. Going back over it now, he saw what Lucius was talking about. Although not all of the tension had gone out of him, a great part had left as soon as the snake curled around him.

"She *is* an empath," Lucius said thoughtfully. "It is certainly possible she changed his emotions."

"That's not good," Severus said, concerned. "I don't like the idea of *anyone* having that kind of control over him, especially considering we don't know what her reasons are."

"Obviously that's something else we're going to have to talk to him about," Lucius agreed.

Meanwhile, Harry traced Draco into a small room he'd never been in before.

"Draco? I'm sorry," Harry said as he saw Draco sitting on a windowseat and looking outward.

"Draco?" he said again, when the other boy didn't respond.

Draco sighed and pulled up his legs to make room for Harry to sit. He quickly took the invitation and sat waiting while he petted Flick.

They sat in silence for several minutes before Draco sighed. He had needed to get away to think and thought he was now ready to talk.

"I know you can't help it," he finally said. "I know you don't want to doubt me and I don't blame you for it, but it hurts. I'm allowed to hurt over it, you know."

"And I'm allowed to hurt that I hurt you," Harry responded. "You're right, I don't want to doubt. I want to be like all of you are, able to believe the world's not going to come along and dump me on my butt the moment I become happy. I've got a family that cares for me again. Do you have any idea how much that scares me?"

Draco turned to look at him for the first time, while surreptitiously pulling out his communication mirror and calling the study. He had the feeling the others would like to hear this.

"Having a family scares you?" Draco asked softly.

"It scares me to death," Harry whispered.

"Because you lost your first one?"

"Because they were taken away from me."

"We're not going to be taken away from you," Draco answered.

"You can't promise me that."

"No," Draco agreed. "I can't. No one can. My father can't promise he'll never leave me. You can't promise that you won't leave us."

Harry blinked.

"You didn't think about that, did you?" Draco smirked. "You are just as likely to have something happen to you as we are. We take every bit as big a risk as you do."

"But..."

"But what? It's our choice. We choose to take that chance. All of us. Father, Severus, Weasley, Granger, myself. For Severus, myself and especially dad, we got lucky; we didn't really get to know you until the threat to you was almost gone. Weasley and Granger, however, had to deal with the fact that they could lose you at any time, for years. It never stopped them, did it?"

"No," Harry said thoughtfully.

"It wouldn't stop us either. And you know something else? It's not going to stop you. Fate might eventually leave you alone again, but we're all going to fight that as hard as we possibly can. And it will never be our choice. But it's a chance, everyone has to take."

"It's one you've already taken," came from the mirror and Severus who had been watching through it.

The two boys pulled up the mirror so the four people could see each other. "What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"He means, that if you weren't ready to take that chance, you would have driven us all away long time ago or not gotten involved in the first place. You would be a loner without friends, without family," Lucius told him. "There's a small part of your heart that is fighting to be that loner; if you don't care, you can't be hurt. It'll never happen though, you care too much, you're cared for too much."

"Still?" Harry said plaintively.

"Always," he was reassured immediately by all three of this strange family of his.


	20. Chapter 54, 55, 56 and 57

4 parts today, though honestly I think the first chapter should have been added to the end of the last section. I hadn't realized it was the only chapter left in that section. Ah well.

Yes, I know that Severus' middle name is actually Tobias... well, I know it now, I didn't know it back then. I decided not to change it though.

Part 54/?

Draco let him bask in that affirmation for a few moments before speaking once more. "Are you ready to head back?"

Harry nodded. "I did leave kind of abruptly."

Draco broke the connection to the study mirror and stood up. "While we walk you can tell me about how father asked you."

Harry laughed in remembrance. "He asked and then tried to head out of the room as soon as possible. He said he wanted to give me time to think."

"What did you do?" Draco asked, interested.

"I went 'Lucius Ares Malfoy! Sit your butt down!'" Harry told him. "He did too. We talked about it for a while longer last night."

"How did you find out about Ares?" Draco asked.

"I asked of course," Harry shrugged. "Why? Is it a secret?"

"Oh, no, not really." Draco hurried to reassure. "If he'd given you any other middle name, then I might have had to wonder."

"Any other? Are you saying he lied to me?"

Draco shook his head. "No, Ares is his middle name, his family one. He said that those of us stuck with more than one middle name should have a reason for each of them. I've got three, so I've got a private one, which I only use when talking to myself, and no, that doesn't mean I'm crazy," he said before Harry did more than open his mouth. Harry smiled sheepishly and motioned him to go on. "A family one, and a public one that I sign papers with and such. Father has four though."

Two minutes later, Harry opened the door to the study, walked in and stood looking at Lucius.

"Yes?" he finally asked, after the silence had gone on long enough.

"Is your name really Lucius D.A.M.N. Malfoy?" Harry asked in shock.

Lucius glowered at his son, who was the only one who could have told Harry that little bit of trivia. Severus was chortling next to him. "Unfortunately, that is correct, although it is not a name I prefer."

"What do they all stand for?" Harry asked. "And when Sirius calls you 'damn Malfoy' is he insulting you or calling you by your name?"

"My name is Lucius Damien Ares Matthias Nostrium Malfoy," he explained. "As for your godfather, I have never figured that out myself. He's known of my initials since Potter found out in Third Year and ended up telling the whole school."

"What I've always wondered," Severus spoke up, "is is it true that your father named you that because your mother had a really bad labor and made her husband promise?"

Lucius turned his darkest gaze upon his chortling friend. "No," he bit out. "That is not true. My grandfather is the one that named me. He was always a bit disappointed in my father's personality so decided naming me after four of the most evil men in the Malfoy lineage would do me good. Matthias was my grandfather's name on my mother's side, and she begged until he stuck it in there. Whether he put it where he did on purpose, is something I never asked him."

"Draco said that he has three names, a private one, a family one and a public one. What's your fourth? And is there an order to them or something?" Harry asked.

Lucius shook his head, he was glad to see the curious Harry had fully returned. He might even forgive his son for telling him. Or maybe not. His stare and small smile at his son made him pale and back up several steps. "There's no real order. I chose Matthias as my public name because I always liked that grandfather, and it made him proud. Damian was my favorite so it became my private name, Ares was far preferable to Nostrium as a family name. I didn't have a reason for Nostrium until I joined the Death Eaters, then I realized what I had been saving it for. I don't believe that Draco's names are in order though."

That reminded Harry of something and he turned to look at Draco thoughtfully before talking to his father. "So? What's Drake's public name?"

"Slayton," Lucius answered easily. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Is something the matter?"

"No, not at all," Harry shook his head.

Behind him Draco smiled slightly, he knew his friend just wanted to be sure he had gotten the family name when Draco had told him his middle name so many months ago.

Severus looked surprised, even touched. "You use my middle name as your public name?" he asked.

"You didn't know that?" Draco was surprised.

"No," Severus explained, "you've always used T. or Torian on papers you've turned in to me, when you put a middle name there at all."

"Well, you're family," Draco said as he shrugged. He turned back to Harry. "And just so you don't die of curiosity, my other name is Nathaniel. Draco Slayton Nathaniel Torian Malfoy."

Before anything more could be said, Flick stirred on Harry's shoulder, bringing the two older men's attention to her and their minds back to a topic they needed answers to.

"Do you mind if we ask you some questions about your companion?" Lucius asked carefully.

"Flick?" Harry asked, surprised. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that."

"Why did she come here?" Lucius decided to begin obliquely.

"I thought I explained that already?"

"You never explained why she left her... what did you call a group, a nest?"

"That's right. And she left... mostly because the elders were stick-in-the-muds."

"She didn't really say that, did she?" Draco asked with a laugh.

"Not exactly," Harry admitted. "But it's awfully close. More like 'stuck to the ground because they didn't believe snakes should fly even if they do have wings'. Or something to that effect. Concepts like that come through more as a picture with emotions attached than an actual explanation using words."

"Is she your familiar?" Draco asked interestedly.

"You know mages have no need for familiars," Severus interjected.

That was true enough. Most European wizards didn't use familiars, and even though most people considered Voldemort's snake to be his familiar, that was untrue. Technically, a familiar was an animal with, hopefully, a high amount of the life energy that was magic. A wizard or witch could link to an animal as their familiar and thereafter use their magic without draining their own. The familiar usually got an increase in intelligence and lifespan, which often bred true in the next generation, and the bond kept them loyal to their 'master'. The use of familiars fell out of favor in the wizarding world because of the onset of wands and the fact that many animals were being killed because they couldn't handle the magic drain being asked of them. A mage had no need for a familiar because they could draw all the power necessary from the world around them, and did not need to use an animal as an extra power source. These days the word familiar was just another word for pet, such as the owls, cats or toads which many students took with them to school.

Harry smiled as he shook his head. "No, she's not my familiar. She's already smart enough, not quite say, Severus' level, but certainly yours Drake," the men laughed as the blonde boy glared at his friend. "She's not bonded to me, but she is imprinted, our minds kind of resonate, that's why we connected so well together."

"You said she's empathic," Lucius started turning the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go. "Do you know her limits on that?"

"Distance, or what she can actually do?" Harry wanted clarification.

"Let's start with what she can actually do," Lucius explained.

"Well, what I *know* is that she uses emotions when communicating. It adds a... richness, maybe... to her voice and sometimes she'll send pictures or emotions through when words just don't work. She can not only project emotions, but read them as well. That's how she knows if someone is a threat to me or not. She can also show me what another person is feeling if I ask."

"If that... animal can tell when someone is threatening you, why did she look as if she was going to attack me earlier tonight? I meant you no harm." Severus inquired.

Harry looked thoughtful and turned to speak to the minidrag for a moment before nodding and turning back. "At the time the only thing she was really feeling was that I was hurt. She can feel me better than she can others, so my pain was overriding anything else." He frowned. "I don't like that."

"I'm not too thrilled with it myself," Severus growled. "That means if you are hurt she is a danger to anyone around her."

"Actually, I'm more concerned with her feeling my pain. No one should have to feel that. Even with that, she still obeyed when I told her to stop."

Severus had to admit that. Grudgingly.

"You said she could project emotions," Lucius continued on to the point they were trying to get to. "Can she... change them?"

Harry looked interested and revolted. Changing a person's emotions? That was just wrong, wasn't it? Well, unless the emotions were dangerous, like Ginny's obsession with him. He asked. "She says no, she can't. She also says that you want to know something in particular and you're very..." he tried to figure out what emotion that was. "Stubborn? No... determined. That's what that emotion was, determination. Whatever it is, just ask. Stop beating around the bush."

"Fine," Lucius agreed. "We noticed that when Flick settled around you, you calmed down immediately. We want to know if she did something to cause that."

"Yep," Harry answered immediately. "But she didn't change anything. She sent these calming feelings at me. It felt... kind of like... okay, you know how sometimes if I'm upset, I'll come over to you and sit next to you and you'll start stroking my hair and I'll calm right down?" he asked all three of the people in the room, since at some point or another they'd all done it. They nodded. "It felt like that. Like someone I trusted was petting my hair. Not literally, but the feeling was the same."

"So she forced you to calm down?" Lucius specified.

"Not at all." Harry shook his head. "Just like, if I'm really mad at you, you could pet my hair all you wanted, if I let you touch me of course, but it still wouldn't make me less mad. It's not going to work unless I want it to work. I knew I needed to calm down, I just wasn't getting there on my own. It's like quiet music, or a nice hot bath, they're soothing, but they don't *make* you relax, just help." The two talked for a moment before Harry nodded. "She says she would do her best to try to stop me from doing something to hurt myself, but it wouldn't always be possible. Like today, even if she had been in the room when I hit the wall, it's unlikely she would have been able to stop me, just because it blew up so quick. She also promises not to threaten the night-dark one again, that's you Sev. She knows now that you're the head of my nest."

Severus found himself smiling, proud that Harry had just told his new pet that he was the head of their family.

Lucius smiled inwardly as well. Things weren't perfect, the problems they'd already faced today weren't magically solved and out of the way, but they were put aside for now. Harry might be happy again, but there was far more to be uncovered than had been yet. He, himself, would have to be far more vigilant than he had been up to this point. He had let things slide, let himself forget that far more than Harry's body had been hurt through the life he had lived. He would not make that mistake again. At the same time, he knew that if he hovered around Harry or pushed too hard, he could undo all the good that had been done. Draco's changing the subject to something lighter after the emotion filled conversation earlier had been just right and he needed to find a time to tell the young man how proud he was of him. After he tortured him a little for letting those middle names out of course. He couldn't let the boy think he was getting soft, now could he?

Part 55/?

Harry put the finishing touches on his outfit and makeup. He was going for a very specific look and looking at himself in the mirror he thought it was almost perfect.

Everything about this meeting had been carefully chosen and orchestrated. They were in the penthouse suite of one of the swankiest hotels in London. The meeting place had been a problem until Harry suggested it. They didn't want it to be at the Dursleys', not only would it bring back bad memories, but Draco and Severus were going to be working there while they were gone. Malfoy Manor was out, it was too magical, besides, Lucius didn't want any Muggles like that in his house. A restaurant had been suggested, but there wasn't enough privacy. Renting the suite and having dinner catered from the hotel's restaurant was the perfect compromise. It was Muggle, so there was no warning because of magic items or people, it was private and it made it very obvious that the tenant was *very* rich.

Lucius and Jade had moved into the penthouse earlier that day. Harry had convinced Lucius to rent a limo and they had arrived in style. The concierge and bellhops had almost fallen all over themselves to serve the twosome. They might not have known who they were but they were obviously rich and important. The charm spell the two had cast upon themselves before leaving the Manor might have had some slight part in that as well. Thanks to the fact that wizards had longer lifespans, Lucius did not look near his thirty-five years and Harry had dressed up to look older and more sophisticated than his sixteen years, nothing was said about the difference in their ages. Besides, she could always be his daughter or something, even if they didn't look anything alike.

Harry ran a brush through his hair one last time. He still wasn't sure what he thought about this new length. Lucius had convinced him to let him use a potion to grow it out, not wanting any part of Jade's appearance to be too close to what it was as Harry. Harry himself doubted that it would matter. Draco and Ron might have recognized him almost immediately, but the Dursleys had made a habit of ignoring him as much as possible, it was doubtful they'd recognize him just passing in the street while dressed as a boy. Besides, no one except Vernon had even seen him this summer. Inwardly, Harry thought that the real reason Lucius had wanted it done was because he liked long hair. He'd had a hard time keeping his hands out of it ever since it was grown out. Currently it waterfalled down his back to just above the tops of his thighs.

"You look beautiful," Lucius said softly from behind him.

"Thank you," Harry murmured as he stood up. He was wearing a simple black dinner dress, mid-thigh length and small shoulder straps. His only jewelry was a simple jade pendant, barrettes, and a bracelet. His hair was left loose outside of the barrettes to cascade down his back. All in all, he was the very picture of a rich, pretty teen-aged girl.

Lucius took him in his arms and kissed him gently, being sure not to smear his makeup. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, Lucius. For the five hundred and eleventh time, I am sure that I want to do this, and I'll be fine. They should be here in fifteen minutes, did you order dinner?"

"Of course," Lucius remarked. "It should be here in twenty minutes."

"You never did tell me what we were having," Harry reminded him.

"Let's just say that I asked what had the smallest portions," Lucius smirked.

Harry laughed lightly. "Good thing I had a big lunch then."

Lucius glared down at him. "That might have been true, if you had actually eaten anything instead of playing with it the whole time. Thankfully I also ordered more food for after they leave."

"What makes you think I'll have more of an appetite after they leave?" Harry asked.

"If you don't, then we'll know this whole thing is a big mistake and I should just torture them like I wished to from the first," Lucius answered evenly.

Harry sighed and folded, melding himself with the larger body holding him. They stood there for several long moments, Harry taking what comfort he could from the older man. He finally, slowly stepped back. "You never did tell me how your meeting with Vernon went," he said a little shakily, trying to keep control. This was not the time to mess up his makeup.

"If I did not already have a... firm and unyielding dislike of the man," Harry heard what he didn't say, if he didn't already have a burning and complete hate of the man. "I certainly would after meeting him once. A more disagreeable man I have not met since Wormtail. Truthfully, he reminded me of the rat."

"Don't be silly," Harry disagreed. "He's much too big to be a rat. Unless it's one of the Rodents of Unusual Size I've been told live in the Fire Swamps in the South."

Lucius chuckled. "Perhaps he is," he agreed. "I ended up coming away from the tour knowing less than I knew going in. It says little for the man that you could explain it better than he did, considering you've never been there. I brought the conversation around to his family and upon his saying that he had a sixteen year old son, I replied that that was Jade's age and invited them over for dinner."

"You say it as if you actually gave them a choice," Harry's eyes glinted with humor as he looked upward.

"Of course they had a choice, they could do as I asked, or they could do as I ordered." Lucius smiled back.

"I wonder if Draco and Severus have reached the house yet?" Harry wondered several minutes later from his position cuddled carefully next to Lucius.

Lucius checked the clock. "They should have," he agreed.

Actually they hadn't. The hold-up had come at their first stop. The Burrow.

"I'll only be a minute," Draco assured Severus as he headed to the Burrow from their Apparation point.

Ron was waiting for him in the back. "Did you get them?" Draco asked.

"No problem," Ron told him, pointing to the cage of garden gnomes beside him. "We also had an imp show up in the last couple of days and just managed to catch him. I promised him a much better house to live in, one without the twins. He was being outpranked."

Draco laughed. "I don't think anyone will have a problem with that. Thanks for gathering these up for us."

"Hold on," Ron backed up a step. "You don't think I was doing this for free, did you Malfoy?"

Draco's face lost all traces of good humor. "And what do you want for them, Weasley?" he growled.

"Simple," Ron glowered back. "I want to go with you to help."

"Help?" Draco snapped.

"Yes, stupid! Help! Harry's my best friend, remember? I'm the one that convinced my brothers to go break him out in second year and my family went to pick him up before fourth. If you're going to make them sorry they ever treated Harry as they did, than I want to go with you to help."

Draco wanted to argue, but really, how could he? He'd leave that up to Severus. "You do know I'm going with Severus, don't you?"

Ron paled slightly but still stood strong. "I'm still going."

"Us too!" "Don't forget us!" Came from around the corner. Ron and Draco turned quickly to face the identical faces of Ron's twin brothers.

"Fred, George, what are you doing here?" Ron asked in exasperation.

"Hey, when our younger brother," one started.

"Starts catching garden gnomes," continued the other.

"And putting them in cages instead of flinging them over the fence..."

"We start to wondering. And then, when he tells an imp..."

"He can go to another house with mean people..."

"We're sure there's something going on. He's obviously going to be pranking someone..."

"Which would make us interested..."

"And proud..."

"In the first place..."

"But to find out he's going to prank..."

"Those people who were so mean to our bestest bud Harry..."

"We just have to help out!"

Draco's head had been going back and forth, trying to keep up with which one was speaking at what time. Ron however, just sighed. "You practiced that, didn't you?"

"Us?" one of the twins asked innocently.

"Yes, George, you."

"What I want to know, don't you agree Fred, is why you are planning on pranking someone, and *not* asking us along?"

"Oh, I fully agree George. That is the important question here."

"We're not planning on pranking them, so much as driving them completely insane," Draco admitted.

"Even better, old bean," George said happily.

"We have the perfect thing," Fred bounced in enjoyment. "Wait here, I'll go get it."

"Get that other thing while you're at it," George called after him. "And don't forget the camera!"

"You guys get to explain this to Severus," Draco gave up.

Five minutes later, they were heading up to where the Potions Professor was waiting.

Severus glared as he saw the entourage his favorite student was bringing with him. One look at their resolved faces showed him immediately what they were hoping for. He couldn't honestly say it was a bad idea. The twins had certainly done a good job driving him insane over the past seven years. That did not mean he would make it easy for them.

"Mr. Weasley, Weasley and Weasley. I was not aware it would take so many people just to carry one cage," he sneered.

Fred jumped in immediately. "Don't be like that Sevvie."

Total stunned silence enveloped every other member of the group. Was he suicidal? From the look on Snape's face, the answer to that was most definitely yes.

George jumped in before his brother was killed right in front of him. "We have the perfect prank for those bastards. They're proud of their house, right? Well, we have this spell. It's a sympathetic magic spell. See, what we do is take a picture of the house, and then paint over it with our special paints. If we leave the pictures in the house where they won't see it, only people who spend time in the house will be able to see the different colors. Everyone else will see the house as it really looks. And even better, these paints change colors every so often, and they're the worst colors we could make."

As Fred went to open his mouth again, both of his brothers hurried to stop him and only a gasp of pain escaped as both of his feet were stepped on at the same time.

"Please, Professor. He's our friend too, and if this is all we can do to help him get back at those... *people* who were supposed to take care of him, than we want to do what we can." Ron begged.

The boys begged for several for minutes before Severus finally relented and allowed them to go with him. Luckily the twins had already learned how to Apparate and had been to the house before so were able to follow his directions to get there as he took the younger two boys with him. They entered the house at the same time a buzzer in a penthouse suite announced visitors.

"Showtime."

Part 56/?

Harry walked over to the buzzing phone and picked it up. It was the lobby saying that the Dursleys had arrived. He told the concierge to send them up.

"Are you sure about this?" Lucius asked one final time. Harry just glared in return. He walked over to turn on the television and flipped channels until he reached the one he wanted... the camera on the elevator.

The penthouse was a secured floor, there was only one elevator that reached it and it had a camera on board so the renters could see who was coming up.

Lucius got his first glimpse of the only remaining members of Harry's family at least by blood. "Are you sure you're related to them?" he asked. There was no resemblance that Lucius could see between either Harry or Jade and the two people in that elevator that he hadn't yet met. The woman was blond with a very long neck and absolutely none of the delicacy of feature that was so much a defining characteristic with both Lily and Jade. The boy... well, he'd been shown some of the clothes that Harry had been forced to wear before he had bought his own, so he'd thought he had some idea, but those overly large clothes must have come from when Dudley was much younger. He was almost double the size of both parents put together and looked ridiculous in the suit he'd been forced into. The potion Severus was making to make him sick of food would be a kindness, at least then he might lose some weight.

"Good Lord," Harry whispered, suddenly realizing he hadn't seen any member of his family but Uncle Vernon this summer. "He's gotten even bigger."

"Do you think he's going to pop soon?" Lucius asked humorously.

"It looks like it," Harry answered seriously.

~_Petunia was fussing with Dudley's hair and tie, much to his dismay. "Now, you two both remember how you're supposed to act, correct?" Vernon straightened his own bow-tie in the reflective doors of the elevator. "And Dudley, he's got a daughter your age, so you be charming to her, you hear me?"_

_"But Dad, what if she's ugly?" Dudley whined._~

In the suite, Harry shuddered and Lucius glowered. That... thing was worried about a girl's beauty?

~_Back in the elevator, Vernon was responding. "It doesn't matter," Vernon told him. "She's the boss' daughter and you be as nice to her as you can possibly be."_~

"That's not much," Harry muttered.

~_"Do you know if there's a woman in the family?" Petunia asked, giving up on Dudley for now and straightening her own flowered dress._

_"He didn't say anything about it, just his daughter Jade," Vernon told her_.~

"I never said daughter, I simply said that his son was your age," Lucius murmured.

"Uncle Vernon hears what he wants to hear," Harry murmured back. "That's it, they're on this floor," he said as the elevator doors started to open. He quickly turned off the tv and headed back into the bathroom for one last check on his makeup.

Lucius waited for the knock then rose to his feet and let them in.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Vernon said heartily, grabbing his hand to shake. "How nice to see you again! This is my wonderful wife Petunia and our son Dudley."

Lucius removed his hand from the odious grip. "Dursleys," he said in greeting. He found he couldn't bring himself to be any nicer to these people than he absolutely had to be.

"Are our visitors here?" Jade's voice came in front of her as she walked into the room.

"Indeed they are. This is Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley." Lucius introduced them.

"How do you do? I'm Jade," she smiled uniformly at everyone in the room.

Lucius carefully watched the reactions of the three strangers. He did not like what he saw. There was no look of recognition but the expressions were... Dudley practically had his tongue hanging out of his mouth. It didn't take a telepath to read what was on his mind, 'pretty girl, pretty girl smiled at me, me want pretty girl'. The truly disturbing part was that Vernon's expression was not much different. Of course, considering who he was married to, it wasn't that surprising. Petunia just looked as if she'd eaten something sour.

Jade was frowning slightly as she looked at the three of them, not that any of them noticed. It would have worked better if someone had noticed, but she would work with what she got.

"You're the director of Grummings?" she remarked, looking at the oldest man in the room.

"That's right, little lady," he said condescendingly. "Why don't you talk to my son, Dudley, while your dad and I talk business?"

Jade's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" she said in a dangerously soft voice.

"Why don't you show Dudley the balcony?" Dudley seemed to like that idea, Jade was just revolted.

"Why ever would I wish to do that?" Jade asked snappily. "Besides, I believe that dinner will be here any moment."

Vernon didn't seem to notice how Lucius was glaring at him, but Petunia didn't miss it, although she wasn't sure why. After all, her Dudley-kins was a very well-made young man. This girl, Jade, should be proud to be seen in his company, even if she was dressed too old for her age. She knew that rich children tended to be spoiled, and it was certainly seeming as if this one was as well.

The group moved to the dining room portion of the main room of the suite. "Where do you go to school?" Petunia asked politely.

"I'm sure you've never heard of it," Jade answered back. "It's a small school, out of the country. You have to be invited, so it's never gotten much recognition, but it's a very prestigious school."

"And your son?" Lucius strove to be polite. It was extremely difficult.

"He goes to Smeltings," Vernon said proudly. "It's my own alma mater."

"Isn't that the school that teaches people to hit others with sticks?" Jade asked ingenuously.

Dinner was a strained affair. Vernon kept trying to talk about work, even after Lucius had made it very clear that he did not intend to speak business over the dinner table. Petunia kept making veiled references to Jade's mother and spoiled rich kids, which made both of her hosts swing between annoyance and almost uncontrollable mirth from sheer disbelief. Dudley was still panting after Jade between complaining about the size of the servings even after Vernon had told him to shut up about it. And Lucius... Lucius tried to keep himself from hexing these annoying Muggles.

"Dessert will be up in a while," Lucius told them as they finished their food. Showing that the chefs could follow directions; the food had been very good, but in extremely small portions and Jade hadn't even finished her portion.

They moved towards the living room portion of the main room of the suite and Lucius and Jade settled down in the two most comfortable chairs. "Why don't you sit over there on the loveseat with Dudley?" Vernon suggested to Jade.

Jade just stared at him for a long moment. "Why would I do that? I'm quite comfortable where I am and staying far way from your son seems to be a good move to me."

"Dursley," Lucius said before he could make any other stupid comments. "Sit down."

Vernon found himself seated on the sofa next to his wife without anymore thought.

Lucius sat forward. "Dursley, would you explain to me why you disobeyed my order about this dinner?"

Vernon looked confused. "You asked me to bring my family to dinner at seven tonight, that's what I did."

Lucius looked even angrier. "Why do you believe I bought your company Dursley?"

"You knew it was a good company with a good future in front of it," Vernon stated though with a questioning lilt at the end.

"Incorrect," Lucius barked. "I bought it for one reason, and one reason only. Jade asked me to."

"I don't understand, what's a cute little girl like that want with a business making drills?"

Jade glared. "Mr. Dursley. You were just told that I, in effect, am the new owner of your business, I would suggest you stop the condescending remarks. I don't appreciate them."

"He didn't mean anything by it, dear," Petunia said in a sickly sweet tone of voice.

"As for why I chose your company? Simple, there was a member of your family that I wished to meet," Jade ignored the woman.

Dudley smiled widely. "How did you know about me? Does this mean you want to go out with me?"

Jade glared at the fat lump with a disgusted look on her face. "Don't be absurd. Why would I want to date someone like you? I'm talking about Harry Potter. I know you're his guardians. He" she nodded at Lucius, "is a member of the Ministry and he told me so. Why didn't you bring him here? He is part of your family, isn't he?"

"What are you talking about?" Vernon roared, standing up. "How do you know about that freak? Are you one too?"

Lucius lithely rose to his feet, his wand already in his hand and stood in front of Jade, shielding her. "I would suggest you do not take that tone of voice with us," he rumbled darkly. "Sit, now."

Vernon suddenly found himself sitting. "You... you used some of that... that freakish stuff on me, didn't you?"

Lucius settled himself back down. "So far it has not been necessary, but I will if I have to, and do it very willingly. Now, answer her question. Where's Potter?"

"What do you want with him?" Petunia said waveringly.

Jade jumped up with a sudden smile. "I want to meet him of course! I've got every article ever written about him, and all of his pictures. He's a shoo-in for Witch Weekly's Most Eligible Bachelor this year as well as the Most Charming Smile award and Man of the Year. Do you want to see the scrapbook I have on him? I've bought a couple of copies of every magazine and newspaper that's had something about him in it and cut out the pictures for it. Now I want to meet him, face to face. And you," the smile dropped from her face. "You were supposed to bring him here."

"Never!" Vernon boomed.

"Why are you acting like you have a choice?" Lucius asked. "Jade wants to meet him, and she always gets what she wants. I didn't buy your company for no reason after all."

"What are you saying?"

"He's saying," Jade said sweetly. "That if you don't bring Harry here, soon, I'm going to close that company down, and you will not only lose your job but you can explain to all of your employees how you lost them their jobs."

"You can't do that!" Vernon bellowed, exploding to his feet once more.

"Can't I?" Jade purred. "I can do whatever I please to get what I want."

"But... but no one knows where he is," Dudley complained, almost blubbering. After all, if his father lost his job how would he get all his presents?

"Then find him," Jade told him. "We'll be in town for three more days, if I haven't met him by then, you can kiss your job good-bye. I *want* to meet Harry Potter. I'm *going* to meet Harry Potter. Do we understand each other or not?"

Vernon looked at the determined girl in front of him. She meant what she said obviously, and her father seemed willing to do whatever it took to get her what she wanted. He didn't understand how any father could spoil his child like that. He never gave in to his son like that, after all. "I'll tell the police on you!"

Jade and Lucius laughed. "You're going to tell them what? That we threatened your job if I didn't get to meet your nephew? Well, then they'll probably ask where that nephew is, and since you're his guardians you'd be expected to know. Maybe you'll get arrested for child neglect."

A knock on the door caused her to walk over there and opened it for the dessert tray. She watched Dudley's eyes almost pop out of his head. The dinner might have been small and gourmet, but the dessert was anything but. Large slices of chocolate cake with ice cream and hot fudge sauce topped with whipped cream and chopped walnuts. There were only two slices. She picked one up and carried it over to Lucius before taking the other to her own seat.

"Where's mine?" Dudley whined.

"Is Harry Potter here?" Jade asked as she took a big bite of cake and ice cream. "If he's not, then why are you even asking?"

Lucius settled his own dessert next to him. "Three days," he reminded them. It was obviously a dismissal.

Vernon dragged a panting Dudley out of the room, followed huffily by his wife. As soon as the door closed, Jade was up and running to the television, turning it on to the elevator camera.

~ _"I can't believe that Mr. Malfoy spoils his daughter so! And to think, they're..." she shuddered. "Magical!"_

_"Yes, I know dear, but it's also my job." Vernon complained._

_"Maybe you'd be better off working elsewhere," Petunia suggested. "You know you can't trust those kinds of people. Even if we do find the boy, there's no guarantee that they'd let you keep your job."_

_"I can't just change jobs like that," Vernon muttered._

_"Why would she want to meet him anyway?" Dudley asked. "He's nothing special."_

_"I know sweetums," Petunia soothed. "You would be such a better choice. If she wasn't a witch that is._"~

They watched as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to let them in.

"How are you feeling?" Lucius asked, coming up behind him.

"I'm not sure," Harry said softly. "It felt good to... I guess... put them in their place maybe? But it felt weird too."

"I don't think you were hard enough on them," Lucius admitted. "I was expecting something much more... aggressive."

"Part of me is seeing this as getting my own back for everything they've done." Harry admitted. "But on the other hand... I spent a lot of years reacting in one single way to them. It's *hard* trying to act differently. When he stood up and started yelling, I just wanted to cower down and promise him anything if he wouldn't hit me, you know?"

Lucius hugged him closer. "I know. I understand. You did wonderfully. I'm sorry I didn't realize how hard this was going to be for you."

Harry shrugged. "I needed to do it. I needed to confront them if I ever wanted to get past them. But now... I've got to do it as Harry."

"What?" Lucius roared, spinning him around so he could look in his eyes.

"It doesn't do any good to stand up to them if they don't know that I'm doing it," he told him. "I need to do this."

Lucius just nodded and gathered him closer, holding tightly. "I understand, but I will be close by."

"We'll figure it out," Harry said comfortingly.

"Yes, we will," Lucius agreed.

Part 57/?

Severus made sure each member of his group was covered in an obscuring spell. It wasn't an invisibility spell, more of a notice-me-not type spell.

Fred quickly took pictures of the outside of the house as the other four entered through the magically opened back door.

"Remember," Severus told the others, although admittedly the Weasleys never knew, "Everything needs to be time delayed for three days."

"We can't keep an imp in a cage for three days!" Ron complained. "The gnomes'll be okay as long as they're outside, but the imp would go insane."

"I don't know if we can put a time delay on the paint spell either," George said thoughtfully. "It'd react badly to the sympathetic magic we're trying for."

"Fine," Severus growled. "Weasley, you can let the imp out, but ask it if it won't show itself for three days or do more than minor mischief. As for you Weasleys, can you do a three day illusion spell over the paint spell?"

George looked thoughtful. "That might work. Only one way to find out, huh?" He went off to find his brother while Ron talked to the imp.

Draco took the two bottles Severus handed him and headed upstairs. His first stop was Dudley's bathroom. His eyes caught on a disposable cup dispenser and he quickly checked the garbage can. There were several cups already in there. The question was, did he change cups every time he brushed, once a day or every couple of days? Draco shrugged. It wasn't really that big of a deal, it would change how quickly the potion started to effect him, but there was never an exact science for this anyway. He pulled down the next six cups and poured part of the potion in each of them, swirling it around so it covered the bottom and most of the sides. He poured the excess into one of the cups and stuck Dudley's toothbrush inside, letting it soak. Once the paper cups had absorbed all of the potion they could without weakening or changing color, he poured the rest back into the bottle they came from. There was no way he'd pour a potion like this down the drain, there was no telling what it would do.

When he had finished, he replaced the cups in the dispenser, placed the toothbrush back in its holder and cleaned up any indication of his being there. Then he went downstairs.

He saw the twins sitting at the kitchen table and walked over to see what they were doing. They had pictures of the outside of the house spread out around them and both had a small artist's paintbrush in their hands. He looked at the pictures that had already been painted and blinked in shock before he started chortling. There were blotches of dayglo orange, pepto-bismal pink, puke green, blood red, and extraordinarily deep black. Chartreuse, fuchsia and mauve. There were sections that were blue and orange checks, yellow and green stripes, red with purple, orange and green polkadots. He watched as one of the twins finished painting a section an absurd shade of blue, then he stuck his brush back in the can and stirred. Slowly the color in the can changed to a neon yellow and he pulled his brush out to start painting in that color.

"That's absolutely hideous," he told them in an almost worshipful tone.

"Why thank you!" one of the twins answered. "It's nice to see some people appreciate our artistic endeavors."

"And one of the really interesting things about this paint is that it will change, even after it's been used, about every fifteen minutes or so for this particular paint," the other twin told him.

"We're also doing a line of colors that people will actually want to see that change anywhere from every day to every week, for people who get bored with the same color on their bedroom walls all the time. You just have to be sure not to stir it while you're painting with it unless you want a bunch of other colors like this," the first continued.

"Are you just going to do the outside, or are you going to do the bedrooms as well?" Draco asked thoughtfully. "And the parlor, can't forget the parlor."

He was handed the camera. "Get us the pictures, we'll do the painting."

He placed the two vials he was carrying down on the table with warnings not to touch and then headed upstairs with a grin.

He found Severus still in the elder Dursleys' bedroom. "Are you finished?" he asked sharply.

Draco shook his head. "I did the whale's bathroom, then I saw what the Weasleys' were doing. There's no way we can allow them just to do it to the outside. I got drafted to take pictures of the bedrooms and the parlor so they can paint."

"Bad?" Severus said with interest.

"Beyond bad," Draco admitted. "That was one of the worst things I have *ever* seen."

"Then by all means, take your pictures," Snape stepped back so that he wouldn't be in them as Draco quickly took photographs of the walls. When he left, Severus went back to what he was doing. He'd sprayed a potion over much of the bed, between the covers and on the pillows and quickly dried it. Making the potion had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done. Not because of any difficulty in the brewing itself, but because one of the ingredients had been liquid from a pensieve with Harry's memories within it. He'd watched as the different memories came to the surface as he brewed. Although there was no sound the pictures themselves were enough. He wished he could do far more than he was currently doing. He wanted to *personally* make them hurt. Whispering a spell over the potion, he moved on to the younger Dursley's room. This spell would start immediately once the family laid down to sleep.

Draco took the camera back downstairs and George got to work quickly developing the photos into something they could work with. Meanwhile Draco got back to what he had been supposed to be doing. Taking up the second potion he headed for the cabinet under the stairs where he knew from Harry's stories there would be spiders. He poured a small puddle of the potion on the floor. It was a slow grow formula and the insects that drank it would very slowly start to get bigger. Hopefully most of them would be out in other rooms before that happened.

He went back to the kitchen to find a third red-head painting and was handed his own brush and a picture of a wall in Dudley's room. He dipped his brush in the muddy brown paint currently in the can. "How did yours go?" he asked Ron.

"The imp has promised not to do anything major until the family starts yelling about the walls. The gnomes are still in their cage behind the garage. They've got more than enough food and water for three days and the lock will open during the night three days from now."

"Is this all the rooms?" George asked as they each took one wall of the guest room.

"Except for the room Harry has been staying in," Draco told them. "It's still got his personal lock on it."

"Alright," Fred said as they finished. "Now all we have to do is the spell." The twins pulled out their wands and said the spell.

From upstairs a noise of disgust came floating down. It was followed by "Ten points for extraordinarily hideous imagination."

The twins blinked. "Snape gave us points!" they said in unison.

"Of course, you've already graduated. It's not like he's actually giving Gryffindor points," Ron mourned.

"Hey, it's still the first time he's ever given us points, we'll take what we can get." Fred told him.

Severus had finished with the potions and was setting up the second part of his job. Malfoy and he had not told Harry about this part, but they were sure he wouldn't mind. Every mirror he could find was turned into a viewing portal hooked to a useless old mirror in the Malfoy Manor so that they could keep track of what was happening.

A quiet calling had him pulling out a mirror. Looking in, he saw a house elf looking back at him. "Call from Master," it informed him.

"Well?" Severus snarled. "Put it on."

The house elf quickly transferred the call. "They left about five minutes ago," Lucius informed him. "Did you get everything finished?"

"Thanks to some help from the youngest three Weasley boys, I believe we did far more than expected." He turned the mirror to show off the walls of the room he was in.

When he looked back, Harry was looking at him and laughing. "Aunt Petunia is going to completely *flip*!" he grinned widely. Then he looked thoughtful. "But we gave her three days," he muttered.

"Don't worry, we will be placing a illusion spell over all of the rooms as well as the outside before we leave. It will last for three days. What about your room?"

"I'll deal with that when I go back," Harry told him.

"What? What do you mean when you go back?" Severus yelled as he headed downstairs.

"I've got to confront them as me," Harry told him solemnly. "I'm not going to be past this until I have that chance. Now that the wards are off the house, I can do magic as long as I don't use my wand, so I'm not going to be in any danger."

"We'll talk about this later," Severus warned him.

"There's nothing to talk about," Harry told him seriously. "This is what I am going to do. You've got about twenty-five minutes before they get home, I'd finish up and get out of there if I were you." He hung up abruptly.

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked the question the Weasley boys wanted the answer to as well. They had all heard the yelling Severus was doing.

"Harry's being..." Severus couldn't decide on a word that explained exactly how contrary he was being.

"Harry?" Ron asked, hiding his amusement.

"Exactly!" Severus growled.

The younger members couldn't help but laugh.

"Put the illusion spells up," he ordered the twins. "Is everyone else finished?"

Draco and Ron both admitted they were, and Severus took a last run through the house to make sure they hadn't left any sign of their short occupancy of the house. When he was done, he renewed the notice-me-not spells and led the way out of the house, making sure to lock the back door as they went through it. A quick check of the outside of the house showed the illusions were up and the gnomes were hidden. Grabbing the younger two he Apparated them to the same spot they had left from. The twins showed up moments later.

"Thank you for your help," he grated out.

"You're welcome, Sevvie!" the twins chorused as they ran back to the house.

Ron took one look at Severus' face and fled after them.


	21. Chapter 58, 59 and 60

Hi ho! How ya all doing? Me, I'm doing just fine. Three chapters for you today, and this takes us over the three fourth mark of this fic. Less than 20 chapters left to go in this one.

Part 58/?

The next two days were a waiting game. Nothing seemed to be different at the Dursley's house outside of their nightmares. The first night, when Dudley woke screaming Vernon had originally thought Harry was back and headed in to teach him some manners before realizing who it was. He'd tried several times to get into Harry's room, trying to break down the door or climb through the windows, but the locks that were still in place had stopped him. He'd even pulled out his shotgun and tried shooting out the door lock, but it just ended up damaging the walls and calling down Petunia's wrath upon his head.

By the third morning, all three Dursleys looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. Dudley was complaining that the food tasted bad and his father actually snapped at him for it. It was into this situation that Harry confidently walked. The fact that he was far less confident than he seemed was a secret shared only by the snake around his neck and hidden under his jacket.

"Boy!" Vernon yelled, exploding from his seat and sending the chair backwards onto the floor. "Where have you been and what have you done to us?" he roared.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked innocently. "This is the first time I've been in the house for three weeks. I just came back to get the locks I'd left on the room and make sure I didn't leave anything else behind. After all, there's no reason for there to be anything magical in the house now that I'm no longer living here."

He walked out to check his special hiding spot in the cupboard. He was pretty sure he'd removed everything from in there ages ago, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He raised an eyebrow at the spiders which were already about twice the size he remembered them to be and noticed the pictures used in the sympathetic spell were hidden behind a broom. He quickly moved them to the space behind the loose board after he had checked that it was empty.

Vernon lumbered forward with the full intention of pushing his nephew all the way into the cupboard and locking the door behind him, but Flick hissed a warning, and Harry eeled his way out before he could. He then reached out to grab hold of Harry's jacket's lapels, only to pull back with a curse as Flick raised her head and hissed in his direction. Pulling herself from around Harry's neck she unfolded her pleated wings and hovered in front of Harry. Vernon might not have any idea what she was, but that she was dangerous he had no doubt.

"Petunia! Bring me my gun! The boy has brought some kind of dangerous creature in here!" As the family was running all over the house, either trying to get away or to get something to threaten him with, Harry moved into the kitchen. He had his own contribution to make to the 'let's drive the Dursleys insane' scheme. Quickly he pulled a vial from within his jacket pocket and poured several drops into every liquid container in the room. Not just the drinks, like milk and soda, but cooking oils and sauces as well. He then pulled forth a packet, a powdered form of the potion, something he had been working on with Draco's help all week. They'd run it by Severus when they'd finished and he'd actually praised their work, still something that didn't happen very often. He sprinkled the powder into the tea and coffee containers as well as the sugar and flour ones. He wanted to make sure they kept getting it for a very long time. He wanted to see how well they'd get on, once they were forced to tell the truth at all times.

Only moments later, Vernon came into the kitchen, gun first, only to find Harry had moved out into the living room. It had taken a while to find his gun since Petunia had hidden it after his last try at getting into the boy's room. Petunia and Dudley were gathered in the doorway watching the confrontation.

"Get that... that... *thing* out of here before I fill it full of lead!" Vernon ordered.

Harry glared at him. He might be used to threats against himself, mainly carried out, but he would not accept threats against his friends. And unlike Hedwig, Flick could more than take care of herself.

Flick decided to prove it, darting forward and spitting venom at the gun barrel. Vernon stared in utter confusion as it began to melt, the acid eating away at the metal.

"I'd drop it Uncle," Harry suggested. "She probably didn't use enough venom to eat through to your hands, but I wouldn't take any chances if I were you. There's no antidote for the toxin of an Alaspinian minidrag."

"And you brought that... that freak of nature into our house!" Vernon bellowed, but Harry noticed that he did drop the shotgun.

"Why not? She won't hurt anyone who's not threatening me. Besides, we were just leaving." Harry turned around to walk out the door.

"No you don't!" Petunia snapped. "Not without taking this spell off of us! We haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in a week!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I haven't been back here for almost a month." Harry reminded her. "So what do you think is magic, this time?"

"Those nightmares about your life," Dudley spoke up, brave in the presence of his parents. "As if your life could really be all that bad."

Harry glared at him and crossed his arms. "Oh really? Having to live in a cupboard, wear your old rags, do all the work, not get enough food, getting bullied by you and your cronies, and then getting beaten for any slight thing that went wrong, no matter who's fault it was, wasn't a bad life? You know, I told someone some of the highlights of my life and you know what he said? He said that you must think I'm a god. After all, everything was my fault. Your car broke down in the middle of town, and it was my fault even though I was at school. A dog dug up the garden and it was my fault. Heck, it rained while you were out on vacation, and it was my fault even though I was staying with Mrs. Figg and half way across the country!" He started stalking forward, getting more mad by the minute. "I was a kid! I wasn't some ultimate evil or something put on this earth to make your lives miserable, I was just a *child*!" He stared at Petunia. "Do you know why I'm so small?" he asked harshly. "After all, both my parents were at least half a foot taller than me, but I'm not expected to grow more than another inch, two at the most. And do you know why?"

"Why are you blaming me?" Petunia asked shrilly, backing away.

"Who else is there to blame? I'm so short because I never got enough to eat growing up. Malnutrition stunted my growth and by the time anyone at school had realized it, I'd already passed through most of puberty and there was nothing they could do anymore."

"We were only trying to get the magic out of you," Vernon growled.

"Well, congratulations Uncle, you almost managed it... twice that I know of."

Vernon looked proud.

"Of course, magic is actually life energy, and the only way to beat the magic out of me was to beat the life out. And you almost managed that... twice." Harry's voice was almost clinical. "As for it not being as bad as you've dreamed?" he turned to Dudley, ignoring Vernon's paling face. He sniffed silently, like it was a surprise the man had almost killed him. "Actually, from the way you all look, I would say none of you have dreamed my worst memory."

"And what would that be?" Dudley scoffed.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Harry purred in a dangerously soft voice as he petted the snake once more curled around him.

"It *can't* be all that bad," Dudley sneered.

"You asked for it," Harry murmured. "Sit down," he said, pointing at the couch. "You don't want to be standing for this."

All three had a disdainful expression on their faces as they sat where he'd told them. Harry stood before them, his eyes looking out into the distance, before he snapped out of it.

"First, I think you need to have some background information. Twenty years or so ago, there arose a Dark Lord. Dark Lord is the name given for a very powerful wizard who wants to use magic to take over the world and there tends to be a new one every fifty years or so. Voldemort and his followers, called Death Eaters, were convinced the world would be better off if all Muggles and Muggleborns were dead. Muggleborns are people who are born able to use magic even though both of their parents aren't. Or half-bloods have one magical parent and one Muggle one."

"So your mother was one of those Muggleborns," Dudley remarked.

"Actually, no," Harry shrugged. "Your mother is a squib. Which is a person who can't use magic born into a family of magic users." He thought for a moment. "Well, that's not exactly accurate either, since neither of their parents or grandparents could use magic. However, their great-grandparents, our great-great-grandparents were all wizards and witches, two very prominent wizarding families as a matter of fact."

"I'm not descended from unnatural people!" Petunia retorted.

"Would you like me to go get the books with our genealogies in it? I wouldn't have said it if I didn't have proof." Harry answered back. "Anyway, for some reason still unknown, Voldemort decided my family had to go. Whether it was because my parents were high ranked Aurors, which are a wizarding police force," he explained, "or because he knew I was a mage, is still unknown. And before you ask, a mage is to a wizard as a wizard is to a Muggle. After Voldemort killed my parents, he tried to kill me, but it didn't work. The backlash from the spell destroyed his body and gave me my scar." He reached up absently to touch it. "It also linked us, something that didn't really matter until he got enough energy to try to come back. During my fourth year he managed to capture me and a friend of mine. He had Cedric killed, and then used my blood to help create a new body for him." His eyes were bleak and his face pinched as he remembered that.

"So that's your worse memory?" Dudley prompted, caught up in the story.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's not. I told you that Voldemort and I were linked. Before he got a body back, it just meant that my scar hurt when I was in the same vicinity as him. Once he got a body though... I could sometimes see and feel what he did. Especially when I was sleeping and if he was doing something really awful. Every curse he threw, I felt an echo of it in my body. There is one curse, called the Cruciatus. It's one of the three Unforgivable curses, the ones that will send you straight to Azkaban, the wizarding prison, if you were found to use it. It's a torture curse. The worse pain you could ever imagine, and it just goes on, and on, and on. I know someone who's parents were put under it for too long... they're in the insane asylum.

"Voldemort loved torturing people, and regardless of the hype, he really didn't care who they were. Muggles, Muggleborn, his own people, he didn't care. That summer it seemed as if every night he'd have someone who he felt deserved to be cursed. And every time, I could feel an echo of the curse in my own body. Not quite as strong, thankfully, or I'd be completely insane by now, but still pain beyond imagining. Even that however, wasn't as bad as the real torture I sometimes had to watch, that I couldn't pull myself away from."

He told them about the night some of the Death Eaters brought in a family of Muggles. A mother, father, fourteen year old girl, nine year old boy and five year old girl. He told them exactly what happened to that family, every minute of every thing they endured. He explained about the Imperious curse and what it did, and what it made them do. About how they finally died and the one who had been placed under Cruciatus until she died and everything he felt during that time. By the time he finished explaining, Petunia and Dudley had both had to leave to throw up, Petunia was currently sobbing and even Vernon was looking green.

"So that's your worse memory," Dudley muttered, all disdain driven from him.

"Oh, you don't think it's done do you?" Harry's voice finally gained some emotion, anger. "No, no. You see, I was *here* that night." Their faces got even paler, for suddenly all three of them knew exactly what night he was speaking of. "That's right. I lived through that torture only to *finally* be able to wake up. And what did I wake up to? My dear uncle standing over me with a belt. To a beating that broke three of my ribs, gave me a concussion, a sprained ankle and a whole lot of bruises and cuts. In fact, when Drake and Sev healed me and took care of my scars, they weren't able to completely heal one I got that night.

"You know, I guess I should be glad you kept me locked up in there. It was the only time I've ever seriously tried to kill myself. Since it was all I had, I drank my entire collection of sleeping draughts at once. If I'd been in a place where I could have reached a knife, I wouldn't be around today. Not that you would have cared," he muttered.

"How can you say that?" Petunia sobbed.

Harry glared. "Thanks to those sleeping potions, I lay in that room for a week straight! Did you even notice? The only good thing was that the sleep was so deep, I didn't have any visions the entire time."

He looked at them all, sitting there. "Do you have any idea what it's like living with people who would prefer you were dead? Who can't quite bring themselves to actually kill you, but seem determined to drive you to suicide? To know there's a madman out there, looking for your blood and that all he would have to do would be to offer your guardians some money, and they would gladly hand you over?"

"We wouldn't have!" Vernon seemed to be getting his composure together.

"Do you really believe that?" Harry said. "I don't." With that he turned and walked away, activating the emblem portkey the moment he was outside the door.

Within seconds he was cocooned within the two sets of arms that would always mean safety and love to him. A glance to the side showed the viewing mirror, still watching from the mirror above the fireplace in the Dursley's living room. The Dursleys were still sitting there in shock, but he closed his eyes and turned away, burying himself deeper in the embrace of his lover and father. They didn't matter anymore. This was all that mattered. He reached out and grabbed Draco's arm, pulling him into the embrace. And this was all the family he needed.

Part 59/?

Harry was curled up next to Lucius on the sofa in their suite. Lucius was playing with his hair which was back to the long length it had been most of the time they'd been staying there. Harry still wasn't sure if he was going to keep the length until he went to school. Lucius really seemed to like it, but taking care of it was a complete pain. Maybe if Lucius promised to take care of it for him, he might consider keeping it. More reasons to share a shower or bath was not a bad thing.

"Do you think they'll show up?" Harry asked lazily. He found he didn't really care. He'd done what was necessary and felt a lightness of spirit he hadn't felt before. He was through with the Dursleys. The others could do as they wished to them. Well, no, he didn't wish for them to be dead, which would be the final outcome if he let any of his family have free reign over them.

Lucius looked down at the head of the boy on his lap. He had a good idea of what Harry was feeling. He also knew that a good bit of it was false. All of Harry's issues and problems weren't gone just because he had finally stood up to the bastards that were his biological family. He wouldn't suddenly turn into a self-confident and secure young man just because he'd fought one of his demons and won. Lucius knew without a doubt that if he asked right now if Harry trusted they would last, he still would not get a positive answer. Not that he would ask right now. There was no way he was going to do anything to puncture the well-being Harry was feeling at the moment. "You know them better than I do," he finally replied. "What do you think?"

"I doubt it," Harry admitted. "He's too much of a coward when it comes to magic. He'd be scared of what I would do to him." He was silent for a while. "Drake really was surprised by their reactions wasn't he?" he asked thoughtfully. "Mine too I think." He thought back to earlier that afternoon.

/Flashback\\

Draco slammed into the conservatory where Harry was sitting in the sunlight reading.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, sitting up in surprise.

"Those... those..." Draco's voice was actually shaking with anger as he tried to think of some term bad enough for the people he was talking of.

"I take it you're speaking of the Dursleys," Harry murmured, putting his book down and moving over to give Draco room to sit down on the bench next to him.

"They're already saying that it wasn't that bad and it was..." his voice dropped off.

"That it was probably my fault in the first place?" Harry sighed.

Draco nodded his face down.

"Why does this surprise you? You didn't expect that?"

"You did?"

"They're the masters of the 'not-my-fault' self-delusion. I honestly would have been surprised if they reacted any other way. Just wait. Once they start feeling the effects of the truth potion, things might change. It's not likely, but it is possible."

"But if you didn't think it would change anything, why...?" Draco began.

Harry shook his head. "It was never about them. It was something I needed to do. And it felt very good."

"So it helped?" Draco asked softly.

Harry looked thoughtful. "Yeah," he admitted, "it did. If only to show me that I could put them behind me. And really, it's not all my fault. I think today, telling them that, was the first time I really, truly believed it."

Draco decided to change the subject. "I'm surprised that the old guys are leaving you alone," he grinned.

"Your observation skills obviously need work," a dark voice said from behind him.

Harry chuckled and nodded. "He's been back there the whole time," he agreed. "You really should have noticed him. Constant vigilance!"

"Unlike Mad-Eye Moody, I see no need for extreme paranoia," Draco said haughtily. "Especially in my own house."

"And if I had been an assassin wishing to end the Potter or Malfoy line?" Lucius growled in Draco's ear.

"Then Flick would have warned us before you even got close," Draco grinned slightly.

"And if Flick was out getting something to eat?" Harry asked, joining in.

"Then you'd deal with it," Draco seemed completely sure.

"You've got an awful lot of faith in me," Harry smiled happily.

"Yep," Draco answered back easily. The two of them just grinned at each other for a long moment.

/End Flashback\\

"Surprisingly considering he is my son, Draco occasionally seems to believe that everything will turn out right."

"I think it turned out as right as could be expected," Harry remarked.

"I agree. But then, I truly don't care about how they took it, only how you did. Even if they had suddenly done a complete turnaround, admitted it was all their fault and begged on their knees for you to forgive them, you never would have trusted them, and I sincerely doubt you ever would have moved back in with them."

"You got that right," Harry agreed vehemently. "I did kind of hope to open Dudley's eyes a bit though."

"Why?"

"I just got to thinking, what if he has a kid that is a wizard or witch? How would they be treated? It's entirely possible after all; he is descended from the same people my mom was, so it could show up in his kids or grandkids. I just don't want another kid, especially one I'm related to, growing up to think he's a freak like I did."

"I understand," Lucius said softly. "If it happens, we'll deal with it. We'll keep an eye out."

"Do I want to know what you've got planned if it happens?" Harry asked.

"Probably not," Lucius admitted.

There was silence in the room for a long time, the two just luxuriating in their closeness. "They're late," Harry finally said calmly.

"Yes, they are," Lucius agreed just as calmly.

Harry turned over until he was lying on his back with his head still on Lucius' thigh. Imperiously, he beckoned to the cordless phone on the side table and it obeyed, flying into his hand. He dialed a phone number.

~ "_Dursley._"~

"Vernon," Harry purred. "I'm here, but you're not. More importantly, Harry Potter isn't here. Did I not make myself clear?"

~ "_I talked to my lawyer!" Vernon yelled over the phone. "If you try to fire me for something like that, I'll sue!"_~

"Vernon, Vernon, Vernon, did I really look that stupid? I'm sure if I looked, I could find some reason to fire you, and if not, I can always shut down the entire company. Nothing in the contract with the previous owners said that I had to actually try and keep the business running. I can always convert it to a magical manufacturing facility."

~ "_I'll tell the authorities!_"~

"Haven't you threatened that before?"

~ _"The boy is sixteen, legally old enough to leave, so the authorities wouldn't do anything to me. He left of his own free will. There's nothing *magical*" he sneered the word, "left in my house."_~

Harry... laughed.

~ _"What the bloody hell is so funny?" Vernon roared as he heard the laughter pouring through the phone lines._~

"What you just said is funny," Harry chuckled. "The only way for there to be no magic in your house is if you burn it to the ground, and I'm not positive even that would make sure of it."

~ _"He left those... those abnormalities in my house?" Vernon bellowed. "I knew his freakishness might be catching, I should have sent him to an orphanage as soon as he was brought here. Or maybe just dumped him in a dumpster somewhere."_~

All traces of amusement fell from Harry's face and his eyes grew cold. Lucius was looking down at him with an inquiring expression on his face, asking him if he wished for the older man to take over the call, but Harry shook his head. It seemed he still had more things he wished to say to the bloated idiot who'd ... raised him. "Actually," he said in a cold voice, "*you* have magic. Your wife has magic, your son has magic. Your dog, cat, hamster, bird, whatever has magic. The insects in your walls, the mold in your refrigerator, all have magic. The plants out in your garden, the grass in your lawn and every organism around has magic, and your nephew has nothing to do with any of it. You don't like magic? Well, I'm happy to tell you that every single person you have ever met, talked to or seen on the street has magic. Magic exists in every single living organism on the entire planet. A wizard isn't a wizard because he has magic, but because he can use the magic that is inherent in everyone. Next time you see your son, remember, he's got just as much magic as his cousin does. Next time you see yourself in the mirror, you're looking at a person who has magic. A magic you will never be able to use. But then, it sounds like you always were envious. I believe one of your Muggle poets is the one who said 'Methinks thou doth protest too much'. Is that your problem? Have you always wanted to be a wizard and hated them because you couldn't be one?"

Vernon was sputtering with rage.

"As for magic in your home..." Harry grinned although the one he was grinning at couldn't see the shark-like expression. "There's more there than you think, and there are more ways to get revenge than a Muggle like you could ever imagine. Enjoy your life, if you can." His evil chuckles were the last thing Vernon heard before Harry hung up the phone.

"Okay," he said to Lucius. "Am I the only one who wants to be in front of a viewing mirror when they wake up in the morning?"

Part 60/?

Harry wandered into the Malfoy study and meandered over to where Lucius was sitting. Almost listlessly he settled himself onto Lucius' lap without a word. Once there, he sighed deeply.

Lucius looked down with a slight smile. He noticed that Harry hadn't even sent a look towards the mirror over in one corner, turned so that he didn't have to look at it while he was working. The morning after the phone call had found Harry in a glamour as a boy while he, Severus, Lucius, Draco and the three Weasleys gathered around the mirror, waiting gleefully for the Dursleys to wake up. It had been everything they had expected. Petunia's screech could have been heard three streets away at the very least. The seven guys had almost laughed themselves sick as they watched her trying desperately to get the color off of the walls. When a couple of giant spiders, about twice the size of a normal tarantula got out of the cupboard, thanks to the imp who was finally given free rein, the hilarity grew even stronger. Dudley's shouts as a giant cockroach ran across his body while he was in bed was a joy to hear. Hearing him complain about the food was music to Harry's ears. Hearing Vernon tell him exactly what he thought of him, thanks to the truth potions that was in all of their food, was even better.

Vernon had lost his job two days later. There was, after all, only so much truth that could be taken by a company, especially when it came from a person like Vernon. He couldn't seem to stop himself from telling everyone, customers and employees alike, exactly what he thought of them.

The first couple of days, they would check the viewing mirror at least once an hour, just to see what was going on. What had started out as hilarity though, had changed to just plain sad. They pretty much just checked once a day to see if they were still there. None of them seemed to be getting any sleep, Dudley wasn't eating, Petunia was trying desperately to put her house and garden back in order, though the gnomes and imp did a good job of keeping it a mess, and with Vernon having lost his job, he spent most of his time at home drinking. It was not a good situation for the Dursleys.

And of course, they were blaming it all on Harry.

They had figured out that they were under a truth spell of some sort, and so the fact that they *could* blame it all on Harry meant that it truly was all Harry's fault, at least in their minds. You're only not allowed to lie when at least in some portion of your brain, you know you're lying. Since they believed it was Harry's fault, they could say it was Harry's fault, which just confirmed to them that it was, indeed, all Harry's fault. Circular arguments could really mess up truth potions.

Harry himself, had grown more aggressive, liable to jump Lucius at a moment's notice as long as he was somewhere considered safe, the Manor or the suite while they were in it. Lucius wasn't complaining too much, though there were occasional mutters about the stamina of teenagers. They still hadn't gone all the way, having decided to leave that until the night of their promise ceremony. They'd done pretty much everything else though.

Right now, however, he didn't seem to be in the mood to jump anyone, instead settling himself on Lucius' lap with numerous sighs. Finally, knowing it was the wrong thing to do but not seeing any alternative, Lucius asked, "Is something the matter?"

"I'm bo-ored," Harry sing-songed with a pout.

Lucius froze. He'd never heard those words or that tone from Harry before but he had from his own son and if there was one thing he had learned it was that *those* words in *that* tone meant trouble with a capital T. His mind darted around, trying to come up with a suitable diversion.

"Why don't you go flying? Or ask Draco for another riding lesson?" he offered.

Harry reached up and turned Lucius' head towards the windows, letting him see the torrential downpour that excellent magical soundproofing had kept out of his consciousness.

"Okay, how about swimming? I haven't seen you in the pool lately," Lucius suggested.

Harry sighed. "It's too much trouble with all this hair."

Lucius frowned. "You shouldn't have to give up something you like to do just because I like your hair. I'm not going to complain if you cut it. It is your hair, you know."

Harry shook his head. "I said I'd keep it until after the dance if you helped me take care of it and you've been doing a good job. It stays." He pouted harder.

Lucius started to get desperate. Harry said he'd read all the good books, finished his homework and finished his part of the lab work for TiP. He had created a paper on which only the truth could be written. Draco's part was more difficult, because he was trying to make a paper that would accept anything written on it, but change the ink of any lies to a different color when touched with a wand and the password being spoken. That way owners could tell if their employees were lying to them without letting said employees know that there was anything wrong.

Harry's eyes opened wide and he jumped off his comfy seat. "I haven't shown you the newest thing!" He ran out. Minutes later he was back with a blank piece of parchment, a pot of ink and a new quill. "I asked Siri and Remy how the created the marauders' map and they sent me the directions. I've changed a couple of things, but I think it'll work. May I? Please? ?" he begged.

"Stop!" Lucius barked, pleased at the instant silence he got in reply. "Now, what *exactly* do you want to do?"

Harry stopped babbling and took a deep breath. "I want to create a map of the Manor like the Marauders made of Hogwarts."

"And what is so special about that map?"

"The map would have *every* room and passageway, including the secret ones, with passwords where necessary. It will tell who is in the house and where and can't be fooled by glamours, polyjuice or animagus forms. Actually, it could be set to map the entire estate if you wanted."

"And what about security? That is obviously not something I would wish to fall into the wrong hands."

"Well, dad's map is password protected; you turn it on and off by touching it with your wand and saying the activation phrase or the deactivation one. If it's not activated, it just looks like a normal blank piece of parchment. We could do that easily enough."

"Normally," Lucius said thoughtfully. "I would say no"

Harry interrupted before he could say anything else. "It could be really useful. Like if someone snuck in, like Rita Skeeter who's animagus form is a beetle, it would tell you about it, and where she was."

"If you'd waited, instead of jumping in," Lucius said sternly, "you could have heard the rest of it."

Harry blushed. "Sorry," he muttered. "Go on please."

"Normally," he repeated, "I would say no. *However*, legend has it that there is a secret location, somewhere on the grounds, with books and artifacts that I would like to see. Therefore, I will allow you to do it as long as the security measures are to my satisfaction. If not, I will destroy it after it is made. Is that understood?"

Harry nodded, brightening. He really wanted to do this, both to see if he could and because it was something his father had done before him. "Okay," he said thoughtfully. "First I need to find the middle of the Manor."

Lucius stared at him. "The middle, or the center?"

"There's a difference?"

"Besides the fact that it would be virtually impossible to find an exact middle in a place like this and even more difficult in someplace such as Hogwart's. The center however, would be the *magical* center. The place where the magic seems to naturally pool."

"How can we find it?" Harry wondered. "And yes, now that you mention it, he did say center, I just didn't realize there was a difference."

"Where does most of the magic seem to gather?" Lucius asked.

Harry thought of everything he knew about the Manor and where, besides the workrooms, most of the magic they'd done came from. Suddenly he got it. The emblem portkeys came from the study and returned a person to the study. The viewing and calling mirrors were set up in the study. Even the fact that it was the most comfortable place in the Manor made sense to him now. He'd obviously be more comfortable the more magic there was for him to draw on if necessary. "Here," he answered confidently. "The center of the magic is this room."

Harry didn't waste any more time. He walked to the middle of the room and with a quick gesture rolled up the rug on the floor. He carefully chipped off some of the stone on the floor, making sure it was in an easily concealed spot. He powdered the stone before mixing it in with the special ink he had already created.

He placed the blank parchment on the floor, dipped the special quill into the ink and started murmuring spells as he placed the quill on the parchment and let it go. Lucius watched with interest as the pen started drawing and only his self control kept his eyes from popping open in disbelief. If this was correct, it was unbelievable. How could there be a complete level below the basement and he never knew about it? Next came the basement level, and another room off to one side, not actually a part of the Manor, but on a part of the grounds he'd been over dozens of times without ever knowing there was a hidden room there. With every level there were new rooms he had never seen or heard of before.

Harry opened eyes he had closed as he poured energy into the spell. "Did it work?"

"Better than expected," Lucius murmured, still shocked.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked worriedly. Lucius' tone of voice had been... strange.

"According to that map you just made," Lucius muttered, "There are two libraries I didn't know about, three sets of workrooms, a second tower, a place called The Dark Lord's Common Room, whatever that is, and a honeymoon suite."

Harry blinked in surprise. Then he grinned seductively. "Want to go find it?"


	22. Chapter 61, 62 and 63

Hey all! I will warn you now, even though this set is chapters 61-63, I'm not going to post Chapter 64. Chapter 64 is pure sex, so... it's not getting posted ^_^. Remember, you can always go to my yahoogroup if you wish to read it. I'll remind you again Monday, I'm not posting Chapter 64... so don't go wondering where it is ^_^.

Part 61/?

"Which one?" Lucius asked, still staring at the map and so missing Harry's expression.

"Well, if we go checking out libraries, workrooms or Dark Lord's Common Rooms without Draco and maybe even Severus, we'd end up hexed to oblivion," Harry started.

"True," Lucius admitted. He rang for a house elf and ordered him to ask Draco to attend them, then went to call Severus, once again missing Harry's expression, which at this point was a squinty-eyed glare. Harry sighed at his obliviousness and rolled his eyes before reluctantly grinning. He'd be lying if he didn't admit that he was intrigued with the possibilities as well. He scampered off after Lucius.

Lucius had already contacted Severus. Harry blinked at the little bit of Severus' surroundings that he could see. "Are you at the Dursley's?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, I am," Severus said, his eyes intent. "I will be by as soon as I'm done." Without another word, he canceled the call.

Harry and Lucius looked at each other. What was he up to? With one accord they headed for the viewing mirror, but Severus was obviously in a room without a mirror. The Dursleys were not in view either.

Draco walked in. "Was there something you needed, Father?"

"We're awaiting Severus' arrival," Lucius told him, in an annoyed tone of voice.

"O-kay," Draco drawled. He grabbed Harry and pulled him off to one side. "What's going on?"

"Severus is at the Dursley's for some reason," Harry told him. "And we thought you would like to help explore the hidden rooms we just found in the Manor."

Draco blinked. "Hidden rooms at the Manor? You're kidding! I've never found any."

"Obviously, they're hidden well," Lucius intoned. "Thanks to a spell Harry did, we have a map showing at least a dozen rooms I've never known existed. Including libraries and workrooms with accompanying storerooms."

"Which is why Sev is coming along," Draco said in understanding. "But why were you..." he tried to think of a way to say it diplomatically. "Out of sorts?"

"Because he's impatient to get started and because Severus wouldn't tell him what he was doing and made sure to do it in a room we couldn't see into," Harry explained.

Lucius turned towards the portkey landing spot as he felt Severus activate it. Seconds later, the normally unflappable Potions Master was standing there, looking tense and clutching a paper almost desperately, his eyes immediately locking on Harry.

"Sev? Is something the matter?" Harry hurried to Snape's side.

Severus looked down at Harry's face, ignoring everything and everyone else in the room. "I was finishing up the potion for your rings this morning when I suddenly thought of something. Why it never occurred to any of us before, I'm not sure. Maybe because it's not nearly as important now as it would have been at the beginning of the summer, maybe just because we felt it was under control even if it wasn't exactly legal. I went to talk to the Dursley's today. It truly was as easy as I thought it would be."

"Sev," Harry prompted when the older man had seemingly run out of words, "what was easy? What did you do?"

Slowly Severus handed over the paper. Harry looked at it in surprise for a moment before he began to read it. His eyes widened and his knees weakened. He would have fallen to the floor if Severus hadn't been right there in front of him to catch him. The Malfoys looked on in concern and wondered if they should interfere.

"Is this real?" Harry asked in an awed, disbelieving whisper.

"It's not completely legal yet," Severus admitted. "It must be signed by the Minister of Magic, and carry his seal and then be placed in the files, but if those are done, and you wish it, then yes, it's real."

Harry seemed to get all of his energy back in a rush. He bounded to his feet and almost ran the short distance to where his lover stood. "Sign it!" he ordered, pushing the paper into his hand.

Lucius looked down at the paper, wondering what could cause even more excitement than the map they already had. His eyebrows went up in surprise before he started to smile. "Certainly," he agreed. He walked over to his desk, and put his signature on the document with a flourish. Next he pulled out his Ministry seal and pressed it onto a blank spot at the bottom of a document. "I'll be right back," he told them, before Apparating away swiftly.

Harry and Severus waited tensely for his return. Harry was almost vibrating, his body contained so much pent up anxiety. Only minutes later, Lucius had returned, holding a piece of parchment. He handed it to Harry without a word.

Harry read it and started jumping up and down in delight. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" He handed it to Severus, his eyes hopeful.

Severus looked down at the parchment and it was time for his eyes to get wide. "Are you sure?" he asked softly.

Harry's wildly nodding head answered even before he finished asking. "It would be a dream come true," he admitted.

"Before you decide," Lucius spoke up. "You must understand that while I can do this fairly easily thanks to my position, there's no way I can keep it from getting out. Dumbledore especially will find out almost immediately."

"It'd be worth it," Harry said immediately.

"I will deal with Dumbledore if necessary," Severus purred.

"Go for it then," Lucius prodded.

Severus nodded sharply once, pulled out a quill and signed. He then handed it to Harry, who did the same thing, both of them beaming as he signed it a second time. He then handed it to Lucius who witnessed it and put his seal on it.

"Draco, come witness this," he ordered, putting his seal up.

Draco sighed deeply as he did as instructed. It would be really nice to know what he was doing, since everyone else was so excited. He'd like to be excited too, but no, he has to sign it without even seeing what it was. Then again, everyone else was *so* excited, it would have been mean to hold them up while he read it. 'Patience is an integral part of cunning' he reminded himself. It didn't help, he wanted to know what was going on.

Lucius reappeared with a beaming smile. "Congratulations," he said to Severus. "It's a boy."

Harry whooped loudly, throwing himself into Severus' arms. They held each other almost desperately, until Draco's patience finally completely wore out.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" he shouted.

Severus carefully moved over to the couch, taking the still desperately clinging teenager with him and pulling him into his lap.

Harry snuggled deeper without ever removing his arms. He'd been in this position many times with Lucius, but this felt completely different. That was his lover. This... this was his father.

"I was thinking of the pledging ceremony this morning," Severus began to explain. "And thinking about how the legality might be questioned if it ever came up because of not having the guardians permission, when it hit me. The new Minister of Magic would not refuse my request for Harry's guardianship. I was about to rush over here, to ask if it was possible, when I decided on another route. I went to the Dursley's and promised that I would take some of the spells off of the house, if they agreed to sign a paper transferring guardianship of Harry over to me. That's the paper I brought to the house. Lucius obviously decided to go one farther."

"I was filing the guardianship papers when I saw the adoption ones in the same drawer. If they were going to do it, they might as well go all the way. So I brought one home. Since Harry is of legal age, his permission was needed for the adoption and name change to go through. He obviously didn't have any problem with it. Harry is now officially, Harry James Potter- Snape."

Harry pulled away to smile brightly at his lover and best friend, before turning the beaming smile towards the man who's lap he was sitting on. The smile fell away and his eyes lowered as he thought of something he wanted to ask but wasn't sure he wanted the answer to.

"What is it?" Severus asked gently. He put his hand under Harry's and raised it up until the jade green eyes were looking into his own black ones. "You know you can ask me anything. Especially now."

Harry took a deep breath and gathered all of his courage. His voice was very small when he asked "Can I... can I call you dad?"

Part 62/?

Half an hour had passed since Severus had agreed to being called 'dad' as long as it wasn't during class, but the two Snapes were still beaming happily. Only one thing had bothered them, which was Sirius' reaction. An owl had been sent off with a portkey to bring both Sirius and Remus to the Manor. Everything would need to be explained to the two. Harry just hoped they, especially Sirius, would accept this as he'd accepted his friendship with Snape and the Malfoys. Well, okay, so he hadn't exactly *accepted* it, but at least he wasn't fighting with him over it.

Severus finally got around to asking why Lucius had felt the need to mirror-call him. The map was brought out and the new rooms were exclaimed over. It was decided, almost unanimously, that they absolutely *had* to find out what exactly the Dark Lord's Common Room was.

They followed the route on the map to one of the small, unused rooms on the bottom floor. It was decorated as a small sitting room, with a fireplace off to one side and a filled bookcase right next to it.

"Now what?" Draco asked after they had investigated the fireplace and it's surroundings.

"Check the map," Harry told them. He showed them how the map had them all gathered in one place then used a magnify spell to show it closer. He used another aspect of the map spell as he murmured "I could use some help," while touching the map with his wand. The figure designated Harry stepped forward and hissed to an almost invisible snake lost in the decorations on the fireplace. Words appeared in a speech bubble above the figure.

"What language is that?" Lucius murmured from where he was looking over Draco's shoulder.

Harry blinked. "It shows me talking to a snake," Harry said in a 'duh' voice, "It's Parseltongue."

"I wasn't aware there was a written language for Parseltongue," Severus admitted. "After all, snakes do not, as far as I know, write."

*/_**We do not write as such,**_/* Flick conceded from her spot around Harry's neck. */_**Certain simple directions, however, can be left for other snakes, from the marks left behind as they moved around on something that will accept and keep marks, such as a patch of dry sand./**_*

Harry explained what Flick had just told him. He then turned to the camouflaged snake. /_Open/_/ he murmured.

The snake moved through the grout between the bricks outlining five separate bricks. Harry came after him, touching each brick with his wand. After the fifth brick, the fireplace started coming apart, much as the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron did.

As soon as the passageway opened, Severus and Lucius pushed their way in front of their sons and went in first. Harry and Draco just looked at each other and sighed. Overprotective parents, who could do anything about them? The two teens followed as fast as they could.

The four looked around the room in surprise and interest. It was a complete hodgepodge of styles and themes. It was as if every person to have come to this room had felt the need to put their own stamp on the room, not caring if it matched anything or not. Right at the end was a shrine, including an altar, to one of the four Founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin. Off to one side was a miniature torture chamber while the other was a lavish throne room type place. The furniture ranged from decadently comfortable to achingly hard, while the colors ranged from several clashing shades of green, grey and silver to black and blood red. And lining the walls, all the way down on both sides, were portraits, most of whom were watching the four interlopers avidly.

"You've brought a sacrifice!" one of the portraits closer to the altar said with a dark enjoyment. "It has been centuries since a sacrifice was brought here!"

"A virgin sacrifice?" one of the others asked, the leer evident within his voice.

Draco looked over at his friend who was fuming at the comments being made by the portraits around him. "That's what you get for wearing white," he said softly, grinning.

Harry glared back at him but couldn't help taking a quick look down. He'd been hoping to convince Lucius to take him out and had dressed appropriately. How was he to know that the shimmery white shift type dress with a slight lace overlay would look so much like a sacrificial gown? Flick was currently wrapped around his waist, looking for all the world like a multicolored snakeskin belt. It was one way they disguised her presence when out and around. Since Flick was to be 'Harry's' pet, she couldn't be seen with Jade, but sometimes she simply refused to be left behind. This had been a compromise they could both live with.

"Well, well, get her over to the altar, let's have some fun," one portrait leered. "I take it you have her under Imperious, and that's why she's not bound?"

"He's a Malfoy," another said proudly. All four looked over there to see a painting of a man with short Malfoy-blond hair. "Having two of us be Dark Lord's is certainly a coup for the Malfoy name."

"Nostrium," Lucius remarked cooly. "I'm afraid you're mistaken."

"Of course he's not the Dark Lord," a very familiar voice hissed. All four turned instantly, wands coming up instinctively. "And Snape as well. What are you two traitors doing here?"

"No Malfoy would ever be a traitor!" Nostrium bellowed from his frame.

Harry pushed the others away from in front of him. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Tom Marvolo Riddle. I really want to know, how many bloody times do I have to freaking kill you before you go away for good?" he practically yelled.

Voldemort looked into the jade green eyes looking back at him and suddenly knew exactly who this was. It didn't matter that he was dressed like a girl, those eyes had only ever belonged to two people and only one of those had actually managed to kill him... several times. His mouth opened. "Potter!" he tried to say. However, someone interfered.

Flick could feel the emotions of her person coursing through her. Anger, hate, even fear. Whoever this person was, they needed to be destroyed. Not by word or deed did Harry try to restrain her as she uncurled herself, darted to the painting and spat. Harry just watched as the painting dissolved from her acid, Voldemort screaming the whole way. He tried to escape, but the other paintings wouldn't let him in. They didn't want their own paintings destroyed by this one who must be under the control of the new Dark Lord. Who else would wear such a dangerous animal as easily as if it were a belt? If she hadn't been a female, she might have even been dangerous.

A clapping sound was heard from the front of the room. The Malfoys and Snapes followed it up to where Salazar was clapping with an almost happy expression on his face. "Congratulations young lady. I never could stand that prick."

"Tell me about it," Harry muttered. The other three bowed ever so slightly to their Head of House.

Salazar tilted his head in return. "You don't bow?" Salazar asked with interest. He didn't seem unhappy about it, just curious. He'd never had anyone come into this room that *didn't* bow. Of course, most of them seemed more groveling than actually bowing. These four however, they didn't seem to want anything, nor did they seem to consider him a god who could make all their dreams come true. It was a welcome change.

"Why should I?" Harry asked in the same tone of voice. "They might be Slytherins, but I'm a Gryffindor."

"How did a Gryffindor get in here? Not to say anything against Godric, but his students tended to have far more guts than brains. It's very rare to find one of those that will stay in company with three of mine."

"Well, considering I'm the Parselmouth, they never would have gotten in without me. And since I was just adopted by one of these, am the best friend of another one, and the other one is my boyfriend, I think I fit in fairly well." Harry grinned back at the portrait. He'd talked to a portrait of Salazar before at Hogwarts and had always found him a pleasant conversationalist. "So, what exactly is this place?"

"Which of you got drawn here?" Salazar frowned thoughtfully. "Though truthfully, I'm a little surprised to see you here, considering the portrait you just destroyed only appeared six months or so ago. It's a little difficult to keep track of time down here, I'm sure you understand."

"We didn't get drawn," Lucius decided to get into the conversation, a little surprised at how well his mate was getting on with the one who was considered a quintessential Dark Lord. "A map was created of my estate, and we decided to track down all of the rooms we had not known existed. This one was first."

"Well... that is quite unexpected. Normally the only ones who come here are those drawn here because they are potential Dark Lords. Not that a single one has ever been someone I would follow, but there will always be sheep, even in my house, willing to follow bleatingly after anyone who promises them power."

Harry poked Draco in the side. "You know a couple of those, don't you?"

"Unfortunately, Salazar is correct that even in my house there are those who would far rather follow than ever actually have an original thought of their own." Snape remarked.

"You still consider yourself a member of my House, I see," Salazar remarked.

"He should, he's our Head of House," Draco put in.

"As well as our Potion's Professor." Harry added.

"I certainly hope you've been trying to keep your students away from people like that Voldemort character. From what I saw of him, he didn't care who he harmed. If my students have to follow someone, it should at least be someone who will take care of his adherents."

"I did my best," Snape admitted.

"Of course, you also managed to antagonize everyone in the entire school who wasn't a Slytherin," Harry needled him. "At least until you showed me that you weren't the greasy haired git that we considered you."

"And to think, that's your child," Lucius was the one needling the Potions Master now.

Both Harry and Severus beamed at that reminder.

Draco and Lucius couldn't help smiling back at them, their happiness was contagious. Needing to get away from the sappiness, Draco turned back to the portrait that was looking a little confused. "The adoption just went through this morning," he explained. "You know, you still haven't said what this room was. And how did that portrait know who killed him? He was already dead, his spirit completely destroyed."

"The one who created this room, truly did know what he was doing when it came to magic. I believe it was Nostrium Malfoy. This room was created to give him the benefit of knowledge from past Dark Lords. A portrait only comes into being when a so-called Dark Lord has died, and the painting has most of the knowledge of the Dark Lord so that it could be passed on. Not that most of these would tell their own children anything. If they couldn't take over the world, they don't want anyone else to do so in their place. Of course, they also tend to be cowards, threaten their paintings and they'll tell you anything you wish to know."

"Why would anyone wish to take over the world with fear and terror? Making yourself a hero of the wizarding world by taking down a Dark Lord tends to work much better. That way they'll elect you to Minister of Magic, and that position tends to have a great amount of power inherent within it. Add to that taking control of the main newspaper, you can do practically anything you wish."

"You're taking over the Daily Prophet?" came from three different directions. Obviously no one else knew about that.

"I don't control it yet," Lucius admitted. "However, I did sue them over that last article, and for some reason I do not believe that it is the last time I will be suing them. Enough of that, and they will have to hand the paper over to me to pay off all their debts."

Harry started bouncing. "Will you fire Rita Skeeter? Will you, will you, will you?"

"I could probably be persuaded," Lucius purred.

"No kissing in front of the kid!" Draco complained. He knew what that tone did to Harry and didn't want to see it.

Harry stuck his tongue out at his friend. A lewd comment from one of the portraits near enough to hear caused a minor conflagration from three directions. When Harry, Lucius and Severus finally allowed the flames to die down, the painting had been almost half destroyed. "Would anyone else like to make a comment?" Harry asked the room at large. "Either myself, my father, my mate or my minidrag would be happy to answer in the same manner, except next time we're not going to stop. Is that understood?" Glowers came from the paintings around him. "Hey, I'm a hero. I've got absolutely no problem with burning the entire room to the ground. I'm sure Lucius and Sev... my dad can put up wards that would keep it from damaging the structural integrity of the Manor or any of the rest of the house."

Lucius glared around, causing several who weren't already cowering from Harry's promise or Severus' glare to try to fade into the background. He turned back to what seemed like the only portrait with any sense in the room. "Would you care to be moved out of here and to a more populated part of the Manor?"

"I would appreciate it greatly," Salazar said thankfully. To get away from the stupid prats he'd been stuck with for the past however many centuries would be a dream come true for the portrait.

Part 63/?

Salazar told them the locations of a number of dark magic books and objects secreted around the room. The other portraits begged to be moved out of the room as well, but not a single one struck them any of them as someone they would wish to deal with for longer than absolutely necessary. Salazar at least, could carry on a conversation that didn't have anything to do with how great he was or how many people he'd killed.

They levitated all of the interesting things out of the room and with Salazar's help locked the room up, hopefully for good. They managed to transfer the snake that unlocked the fireplace onto the frame of Salazar's portrait which they moved to the wall of the library. Before they closed it though, they decided to leave the portraits in there a treat. As well as one to anyone else who did manage to get in. Harry and Draco...redecorated.

By the time they were finished, the dark, gloomy and fearful place had been completely transformed. The colors were bright pink, baby blue and a sunny yellow. Peace signs, flowers and happy faces decorated the furniture which was either large and comfortable or child sized and cute. Bean bag chairs and bead curtains covered the side that had been a torture chamber. Overstuffed couches and shag carpeting covered the other side. In all, it was bright, cheerful and in exceedingly bad taste. Harry had gotten the idea from an Austin Powers movie that the girls had taken him to see.

There was still no word from Sirius, but Harry hadn't really expected one. His godfather had spent a lot of time since his freedom traveling around, trying to find how things had changed in the twelve years he was incarcerated. Just being free to go where ever he wished and do whatever he wanted seemed to have caused an almost euphoric feeling within the man and he'd been living it for all he was worth. The settlement he received for his false arrest and imprisonment meant that he didn't have to work if he didn't wish to, and fourteen years of not dealing with humanity as a person had made him unsuited for most jobs where he would have to interact with other people. Remus had gone with him, helping him out and reaffirming the friendship that had been almost destroyed thanks to Pettigrew's treachery.

Sirius would come as soon as he could, Harry had no doubt about that; it just might take a while for the owl to find him and for him to read the note. What exactly was going to happen when he got here was something he had no ideas about.

Since he wasn't here yet, they had to decide where else to go explore next. Harry begged and pleaded until they finally agreed to go see the Honeymoon Suite just to get him to shut up. On the way up, they talked about the map.

"Most of it's pretty straight forward," Harry explained. "It shows the level you're on, touch a staircase with your wand to show other floors, or simply ask it 'Second Floor' 'Sub- basement', whatever. To find a password or the way to enter one of the secret rooms, say 'I need some help here' while touching it with your wand. To find the quickest route, touch the place you want to get to and say 'How do I go here?' and it will show up as a dotted red line which will disappear behind your figure as you move. You can, if you want, set it up with special names for each of the people that would normally be here."

Severus frowned. "I thought you used the phrase 'I could use some help' to find the password."

"Actually, all that's necessary is the word 'help', what you put around that doesn't really matter. Just like you could use 'I want to go here' or even just 'go' for the routes."

"How are you going to protect it?" Lucius asked.

"I've been thinking of that. The easiest thing is to make it blank when not in use, or covered over with something innocuous that wouldn't be likely to be thrown or given away. Still, to make sure no one could use it against you, I was thinking you might be able to link it to the Manor. It already sort of is, or it wouldn't work, but there's some magics that only the Lord of the Manor can use, right?"

Lucius nodded.

"That's because the Manor recognizes you as the Lord, right?" Harry asked thoughtfully.

"Correct," Lucius conceded. "I was dedicated and linked to the Manor first as the heir, then as its Lord. A number of spells, such as the wards, are linked to me so that I know if something is wrong."

"Can you link the map to you in the same way the wards are set, so that only the Lord of the Manor can activate it? I think that might be the most secure way, if it's possible."

Lucius nodded in consideration. "I'll research it in the Tower Library. All books of that sort are kept there."

Draco looked over at him. "Does that mean there really is an invisible tower that only you know about? I heard rumors about that."

"Actually, there are two towers, both invisible. It is true that I knew about one of them though."

"And the sunsets are gorgeous from the top," Harry smirked. "The sunrises aren't too bad either."

Severus reached over and pulled some of his hair. "There are some things I have no interest in knowing. This would be one of them."

"Yes, dad," Harry said, smiling brightly once more.

"Are you two going to keep doing that?" Draco smirked.

"Keep doing what?" Severus asked.

"Every time he calls you dad, both of you light up like someone put a lumos spell inside you."

"If you don't like it, Draco my son," Harry mock sneered, "You have my permission not to look."

"Please don't call him that," Severus almost pleaded. "I'm far too young to have a sixteen year old grandson."

"If I have a sixteen year old son, you can deal with having a sixteen year old grandson," Harry smirked.

"We're here," Lucius told him before anything more could be said. He was holding the map at the time, so he placed his wandtip on it and said "help". Something was happening with Harry and himself, but he couldn't quite figure out what the two figures were doing. He used the magnification spell and asked for help once more. This time he could see two figures, one, the one designated as Harry, seemed to be leaned against the wall underneath the landscape hanging in the middle of the hallway. The figure designated as Lucius was leaning up against him, pressing him into the wall as they kissed. He leered at Harry. He could definitely deal with that.

He pulled Harry over and tried to place him in the exact place the map showed him. He doubted it was extremely important, since it would have usually been a female, and there was no way to tell what size or shape a Malfoy bride might be, but he still tried to get it as close as he reasonably could. Once Harry was placed as he wanted him, he bent down and started kissing him, his hands braced on either side. He could feel the stone of the wall changing to the wood of a door the longer they kissed. Eventually, Harry started squirming and pulled his mouth away.

"The doorknob's right in the middle of my back," he panted once he had some breath back.

Slowly, Lucius pulled away, bringing Harry with him until he could reach the door handle. He opened it and then looked back to see Draco and Severus very obviously looking anywhere else.

"You can look now," he smirked, opening the door and leading the way in. Harry quickly, and the other two reluctantly followed.

The room inside was a luxurious bedroom in shades of cream, rust and green. The furniture was made of cherry wood carved with vines and assorted animals. Draco took a closer look at some of the reliefs and found himself blushing at what exactly some of the animals were doing. The bed itself was massive, larger than a king-sized with a patterned comforter and drapes tied to the pillars. Luckily there were absolutely no flowers.

"For some reason, I was expecting it to be more... obscene," Harry said, looking around. "You know, naked pictures of people having sex all over the walls."

"You obviously haven't taken a closer look at some of these carvings," Draco answered back, heading off to look at the bathroom. "And what about the carvings on that headboard?"

Harry tried to look at the pictures on the headboard but couldn't see them from where he was standing. The bed had a set of steps to get up on it, but Harry didn't bother with that, pulling himself up and on to the bed. Once there, he froze.

"Is something the matter?" Lucius asked. He had been watching the others explore the room and had been the only one to notice Harry's sudden stillness.

Harry turned around on the bed and stared at his lover with hot eyes. "This is a very comfortable bed," he purred. "Why don't you come join me up here?"

Draco stepped out of the bathroom. "Hey Harry, come check out this bathroom. You'd love it." Harry ignored him. "Harry?"

"Luc-i-us," Harry called, "come here."

Flick unwound herself from Harry's waist and darted towards Draco and Severus. They couldn't help backing away from her. They knew she wouldn't hurt them, but having something that deadly heading towards them like that would send any person with even a tiny bit of sense away.

"Harry, what's the matter with Flick?" Severus asked as he slowly backed away.

"Hmm?" Harry asked. He stopped where he was crawling towards the edge of the bed nearest his mate, and looked over for a minute to talk to his snake. "She says I'm in heat, and that other males shouldn't be around." He turned back to Lucius and licked his lips as he stared, one hand dropping down to massage his suddenly rock hard cock.

Suddenly Lucius understood. "Of course," he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "This is a 'Honeymoon Suite' for a family that usually deals in arranged marriages. Of *course* the bed is going to have a lust spell on it."

"Well then we just need to get him off the bed, right?" Severus asked.

"I don't know," Lucius answered. "Only one way to find out." He turned back to Harry. "Why don't you come to me?"

Harry obviously agreed with that, slithering off of the bed and letting the pressure lift his dress up above his waist. He couldn't help but notice the heat Lucius was giving off, tangible waves of lust reaching towards him. "What's the matter my love?" he murmured, slinking forward and pressing against his lover. "Come to bed, I need you so bad." He started kissing Lucius as his hands fumbled with the buttons on the older man's shirt, his hips moving restlessly to press himself against his lover's thigh. "Please love, take me to bed, I'm burning up. Please," kiss "I want you," kiss "I need you" kiss "I love you" kiss. He started to nibble down Lucius' chin to his neck.

"I would say it's no longer just the bed," Lucius managed to utter coolly. "Any suggestions?"

"Have fun?" was Draco's suggestion.

Severus glared, but unfortunately had no better answer to offer. "It's going to have to be worn out," he said grumpily.

Lucius was listening when he could spare the concentration, however, having someone nibbling on your neck and humping your leg was a proven distraction, when it was the person you loved, it was even more so. He couldn't seem to stop his hands from pulling Harry's form closer, both of them moaning as their bodies pressed against one another.

"We will be waiting for you in the library most likely. Don't forget that his dogfather and the wolf will be here sometime today most likely, and leaving them in my company for very long would not be conducive to them being in a mood to listen to his explanations." Severus reminded them, although only one was listening at the time, and that only half-heartedly. With a sigh, he finally followed the proddings of the Alaspinian minidrag and left the two to mate in peace.

As Severus, Draco and Flick left the room, the humans realized that the door they had just passed through was once more solid stone. There was no way in until the lovebirds came out. They sighed and headed downstairs.

"Snape!" A voice roared from below them. "Where's my godson? I got a letter to come as soon as possible, so where is he?"


	23. Chapter 65, 66, 67 and 68

One more time, for those who didn't read it last chapter, Chapter 64 is not being posted. It's nothing but pure sex, and there's no way I could just cut some of it out. It can be found on my yahoogroup, Jendrafic, a link to which can be found on my profile. I've had someone ask if I could at least put that chapter up on another site such as aff, but I haven't yet decided if I'm going to or not. You are getting four chapters, just because I didn't want to leave you with the cliffhanger at the end of 67. I could have though... remember that. _**evil grin**_

Part 65/?

"Black, Lupin," Severus sneered. He remembered fondly a time when that simple remark would have been followed by insults, but that wasn't possible anymore. Harry had made him promise months ago that while he wasn't expected to be nice, he'd better at least be civil. Black did make it difficult sometimes... most times.

"Snape," Black growled right back. "Where is my godson?"

"Harry is... indisposed at the moment," Severus answered deceptively.

"Indisposed? What do you mean indisposed? What's wrong with him? Is he sick?" Sirius growled as he stalked closer.

"He is exactly what I said, indisposed," Severus replied with a scowl.

Draco rolled his eyes and found Lupin looking at him congenially, the two of them joined in mutual exasperation over the show being put on before them. "Can you tell me what's going on Malfoy?" Remus asked softly as Draco continued walking downstairs.

"Well, it seems *someone*" he looked back at Black as he said that, "sent Harry the instructions to make a map."

"The Marauders' Map? He made one?" Black asked proudly from behind them. Obviously he was paying attention.

"Yes, he did," Draco admitted, leading the way into the library and settling into one of the chairs. He didn't bother to offer chairs to the two interlopers, but they didn't bother to wait for one either.

"What does this have to do with why he's 'indisposed'?" Remus asked. "Did he run up against something he couldn't handle?"

"It must be truly horrific if so," Black remarked worriedly. "Harry can deal with damn near anything."

Severus bit back a growl. That was one of the things he hated most about Black, at least now. He seemed to feel both that Harry could deal with absolutely anything, all by himself, while at the same time treating him like a young child. That he was strong enough to fight anyone or anything and yet too young to know his own mind and make his own decisions. But then he'd always known Black was a hypocrite.

"Not exactly," Draco said condescendingly. "Harry tripped a spell in one of the rooms, and he and my father are currently locked in until the spell runs through and they can get out. And before you ask, the door has disappeared and we can't open it."

"Are you telling me that Harry is stuck in there with *Malfoy*!" Sirius roared, jumping to his feet and striding angrily towards Draco, only to freeze. Hovering in front of him was two feet of serpentine lethality.

"An Alaspinian minidrag," Remus breathed. "Sirius, don't move, please!" his voice was a whisper, not wanting to scare the snake still hovering with quick beats of her blue and pink wings.

"Is it dangerous?" Sirius asked, still standing absolutely still.

"Deadly," Remus slowly reached for his wand.

"Should have known the Malfoys would have a creature like that for a pet," Sirius sneered even as his eyes didn't move away from the beady eyes in front of him.

"Actually," Draco walked over. "Flick belongs to Harry."

"Harry would never sic his pet on me," Sirius said dismissively.

"True," Severus remarked, his glee well hidden. "However, Harry isn't here and Flick doesn't know you. To her you are simply strangers who are threatening Harry's nestmate."

"What do you mean by nestmate?" Sirius had obviously found yet another thing to rant about. "Are you saying that he and Harry...?"

Draco sighed hugely, silently echoed by Remus. "No, there's nothing like that between Harry and me; I'm straight, thank you very much. Nestmate simply means we live in the same nest, or house. Since Harry lives here, and has for over a month, this is his nest, and I am his nestmate." He turned to the snake. "It's alright Flick, he won't hurt me." He never was quite sure how much Flick understood from people other than Harry, but hopefully she got at least the gist of it.

Obviously she did, as she moved over to a chair back and curled herself around it. Her posture was still threatening, her head up and wings in position to snap open at a moments notice, but no longer immediately lethal.

Sirius didn't even bother to say thank you. Instead he glared at Draco. "You said *you* were straight, are you implying Harry isn't?"

Remus blinked and stood up at that. "That's quite enough Padfoot," he said intensely. "You know very well that Harry is gay, he came out to us months ago. Right now you're just trying to start a fight." He turned to Severus and Draco. "You said Harry should be free of that room in the morning, correct?"

Severus nodded. "I cannot guarantee it of course, but I really can't imagine it would take longer than that for the spell to run it's course."

"In that case, is there somewhere we can spend the night?" Sirius glared at him, but Remus paid no attention.

"Of course," Draco said, like a good host. "I'll get a house elf to show you the way."

"We don't need a house elf," Sirius growled. "Just tell us the way."

"Whatever," Draco muttered. "Go upstairs to the right, the first set of rooms across from each other are empty."

Sirius turned around and stomped off, Remus following after.

"And luckily," Draco remarked quietly to Severus, "the Family wing is closed off unless someone with a room there is with them."

As soon as they were out of sight of the library doors, Sirius stopped.

"What is it now?" Remus sighed.

"Something's going on," Sirius complained. "I want to find out what it is." He turned himself into a dog and moved until he could hear into the room they'd just come from. Remus rolled his eyes, but listened as well. The first thing they heard was a strange voice.

"If you don't mind, I have some questions," Salazar remarked from his new position on the library wall.

"Sure, why not?" Draco groaned.

"Who is Harry? I was under the impression that the minidrag belonged to Professor Snape's daughter."

Draco and Severus looked at each other in surprise before Draco started to chortle. "We never did introduce ourselves, did we? I'm Draco Malfoy, my father is Lucius Malfoy, this is Severus Snape and the girl with us... wasn't a girl. That was Harry."

"He dresses as a girl? That's... slightly unusual." Salazar was surprised that after all these years he could still be surprised. He never would have guessed that the girl with long black hair and the virginal white dress could possibly be a boy.

"Yes, well, Harry is an unusual boy," Severus replied. "Unfortunately, since he is considered the hero of the wizarding world, he can't go out in public as himself anymore. Last time it happened, he was mobbed, and not only did he end up with bruises and cuts, but several others ended up in the hospital because of it. He had to do something drastic so as not to be recognized, and Jade, his name when out as a girl, is his way to do that."

Remus decided he'd heard enough and grabbed the loose skin at the top of a growling Snuffles' neck. With absolutely no cooperation, he managed to drag the large dog after him to one of the rooms they'd been offered.

Once inside he quickly put up silence and locking spells. "What is your problem?" he asked with annoyance.

Sirius changed back. "What do you mean, what is my problem? Didn't you fucking hear them? Harry's dressing as a girl, and they think that's normal!"

"Maybe for him, it is," Remus said gently. "It's not common, but it's not completely unknown either, especially among Muggles. Besides, what other choice did he have? Become a hermit? A Muggle? I'm pretty sure he was thinking of at least one of those. Now he has found a way around that problem. A very individual solution, it's true, but you've got to admit Harry is most certainly an individual."

By the time a house elf showed up to tell them it was dinner time, Sirius had calmed down considerably. Remus had made him see that Harry's note had scared him and he'd entered ready to take on the world for him. Finding him not around had done absolutely nothing to calm him down. There was, however, one last thing about that conversation that was bothering the animagus.

Sirius and Remus headed downstairs and to the dining room the elf directed them to. Draco and Severus were already there.

"So, did you hear anything interesting after you left the library?" Severus asked with a sneer.

"Why yes," Sirius snarled right back. "I learned that Harry likes to dress like a girl, and whoever you were talking to for some reason thought he was your daughter. Would you like to explain that?"

Severus opened his mouth to answer back antagonisticly, but visibly decided against it. "That is something Harry wished to talk to you about himself, I believe." Is what he finally answered.

Sirius glared. "Harry's not your son," he growled. "I'm his godfather, that's my job."

Draco put down his fork firmly, pulling their attention away from each other. "You should have thought of that earlier." He met Sirius' glare and matched it. "A father is there for his child. No matter what. You're not a father figure to him. You're a favorite uncle and you like it that way. You see him every couple of months, and buy him birthday presents. That's your place in his life. That's the only place you wanted to have."

"That's not true! I tried to get custody but they wouldn't let me!" Sirius roared.

"So you did what? Went gallivanting around the world to make yourself feel better?" Draco never raised his voice, keeping it calm and collected and having all the more impact because of it. "There was no Voldemort to worry about, so no reason for him to have to stay in the house all day. As a matter of fact, the first three weeks of summer vacation he didn't do more than sleep there. The rest of the time he was in Diagon Alley or Muggle London. After that, he moved in with us. And yes, we've got major wards up and he would have been extremely hard to find here, but he figured out how to hide on his own. If you think you're such a great father figure, why was I the one that gave him a birthday party? Did it even occur to you? He never even got an owl from you after all that stuff in the papers. A father cares all the time, Black. And I don't think that's something you're capable of. And maybe that's not your fault. I have no idea what twelve years in Azkaban did to you, I don't know what you were like before, but that doesn't change the fact that even when it was possible for you to be with him, you weren't. Severus was. And that, in the end, is the difference." He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving three bemused and thunderstruck men behind him.

"On that note," Severus said, standing up as well. "I will take my leave." He wanted to stay. Oh, how he wanted to stay and ground everything that Draco had just said into the dog's face,

but he'd promised. And he always kept his promises. Especially the ones to his son.

Sirius looked as if he had every bit of the fight knocked right out of him. Remus couldn't help but think he looked like a kicked puppy. "That's not true, is it Remy?"

Remus looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes, Siri, it is. You've had many chances to see him or talk to him that you've passed by because there was something interesting going on, or someplace new you wanted to see."

Sirius looked devastated.

"It's not that bad, Padfoot," Remus said comfortingly. "I have no doubt he knew that he could always call on you when he needed you. Still, there's something to be said of having a person that's always there for you, and Severus has given him that. Like Draco said, you're his godfather, a favorite uncle. And he does love you. I have no doubts about that at all." He patted Sirius' shoulder as he left him alone, slumped down in his chair and staring at his hands, at the dining room table.

Part 66/?

Harry woke and stretched mightily before stopping with a gasp.

"Hurt?" Lucius murmured from behind him.

"Yes," Harry gasped.

Moments later a potion bottle was at his lips. Eagerly he gulped down the contents and could almost feel it moving down his body, taking care of the worst of the aches and pains.

"Is it over?" Lucius asked, hoping desperately that he'd say yes. He really didn't think Harry could handle any more. Admittedly, he'd thought that over two hours before they finally managed to go to sleep and Harry had managed to keep surprising him.

Harry carefully twisted around so he could look at his lover. And he really was his lover now. He smiled slightly at the love bites he'd left all over Lucius' neck and chest. Those marked the older man as his. His lover, his mate. There was a warm swell in his breast, and he was afraid for a moment that the spell wasn't through with him yet, before he realized that while he might still think the blonde sexy, his body wasn't even close to responding. He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "I still think you're sexy, but my body doesn't want to do anything about it."

Lucius gave a sigh of relief, eased off the bed and moved into the bathroom. Even he was moving a little gingerly, although not for exactly the same reason. He'd offered to switch once Harry had become a little more lucid, but the younger man had refused, saying he wanted at least one thing to be special for after their promise ceremony. Lucius had no doubts he was damning himself for that now.

Harry watched him go, sure he'd find out what he was about soon enough. He thought back over the night before and smiled happily. Last night had been wonderful for the most part. They'd made love in more positions than he'd ever thought possible. He'd managed to actually come only five or six times, admittedly far more than he ever had before, but unfortunately the spell wasn't finished with him even then. The last couple of times he'd orgasmed had been fairly painful, since he'd had nothing left.

In the bathroom, Lucius quickly ran the bath as hot as he thought Harry would be able to stand and added bubbles and a topical healing potion. Once it was well on its way, and he had made sure there was soap and shampoo as well as washcloths and towels close by, he went back into the bedroom. He reached the bed just in time to keep Harry from falling to the floor as he tried to climb down and swept him up in his arms.

"Isn't this supposed to happen after the wedding?" Harry couldn't help asking, even as he relaxed into Lucius' arms.

"Since when have we been traditional?" Lucius asked humorously.

"True," Harry moaned as he was lowered into the water. The heat seeped in and started to work as he relaxed and luxuriated in the steaming water. Lucius knew he was feeling better as he reached out to the bubbles and started moving them around.

Harry suddenly looked at Lucius and frowned. "Is there a reason you aren't in here with me? I saw the way you were moving, and you certainly can't say that the tub is too small."

Considering the bathtub was large enough for six people to stretch out in, that was certainly true, and it took Lucius only a moment to decide his lover was correct. He stepped in carefully, not wanting to disturb Harry.

Harry didn't seem to mind, moving over immediately so he could cuddle into Lucius' side. They soaked in silence for a while.

"How are you feeling?" Lucius broke the silence to ask.

Harry, who had been drifting on the edge of sleep woke up a bit. "Hmm?"

Lucius smiled fondly down at the drowsing bundle. "I asked how you were feeling?"

Harry carefully tested himself, stretching out under the still hot water, magic truly is a wonderful thing. "Much better," he admitted. "Most of the aches are gone."

"I'm glad," Lucius murmured. "Now, how are you *feeling*?"

Harry caught the emphasis and smiled widely. "Very, very good. I'm not sorry it happened. Not at all."

"It wasn't what you were expecting," Lucius reminded him.

"As you said before, sort of, since when have we done the expected?" Harry answered easily. "I loved it." He squirmed around until he was kneeling and with Lucius' help straddled the older man. "It might not have been what I expected, but it was far better than I ever dreamed. I have *no* regrets."

"Not even that last time?" Lucius asked intently.

"Not even," Harry said immediately, making sure he was staring Lucius in the eye so he could tell he wasn't lying. "True, it wasn't the best, we were both too tired and sore by then, but I still don't regret it. It was with you, how could I possibly regret that? What about you?"

Lucius thought for a moment. "I have to admit I do." Harry's face fell a little. "Your first time only comes once, and I was hoping it would be more romantic than that," he did know his love was a romantic at heart after all. "I also regret the fact that I hurt you. But I don't regret it happening."

Harry nodded, he could understand that distinction.

Lucius took up the soap and washcloth and proceeded to gently wash his lover. Meanwhile, Harry picked up the shampoo and started to work on his mate's hair. It took some doing for them to work around each other, but they considered it worth it. Harry looked down as he was washing his lover's groin. There wasn't even a twitch of interest from the muscle he was currently holding.

"Do you think we broke it?" he asked in a little boy's voice.

Lucius laughed. "I don't think it's quite that bad." He turned serious. "It's time to let me see, don't you think?"

Harry withdrew slightly. He knew exactly what it was Lucius wanted to see, and he wasn't too sure he wanted to show. Although he was moving much freer and with far less aches and pains, he could tell immediately that this wasn't something Lucius was going to like. However, looking into his lover's storm-grey eyes, he didn't see that he had much choice. Sighing, he moved off of his mate's lap and knelt up, leaning on the edge of the bathtub with his bottom sticking up into the air.

Lucius carefully pulled apart the globes of Harry's bottom and hissed in displeasure. His opening was an angry red, bruised and swollen. It looked extremely painful. "Stay there," he told the younger man, getting out of the water and heading to the potions cabinet. He found the two potions he was looking for and headed back. As gently as he could he smoothed a cream

over Harry's abused hole. Harry sighed in relief at the immediate pain alleviation. It didn't even hurt when Lucius had to go farther in and used his longest finger to spread the cream as deep inside as he could go.

Harry stood up carefully and stepped out of the bath. After they dried, Lucius handed him the other potion. Harry looked at the label and tried to hand it right back. "Uh-uh, no way." He shook his head adamantly. "Those feel awful."

Lucius just stared at him. "Which do you think you'll like the feel of less? The cleansing potion, or going to the bathroom?"

Harry pouted. Lucius didn't move. Finally Harry sighed and drank down the potion, shuddering as he felt it working through his system.

It was only moments later they both realized something. There had been a lot of exercise in the past eighteen hours and they hadn't eaten since lunch the night before. The grumbling of their stomachs made that very obvious. After getting dressed back in yesterday's clothes, they headed out the door.

"I'm going to head for my room to get changed," Harry told him. "Meet you downstairs for breakfast?" He reached up and kissed his lover before turning to go to his room.

He froze.

"Hello Harry."

"Sirius!"

Part 67/?

Harry knew at that moment there were only two ways for this to go, either Sirius could start yelling and they'd get into a fight, or he could do something to stop it before it even started. Just as he'd done the last time Sirius had walked in unexpectedly, he decided to go with the second choice. "Siri! You made it!" He ran forward and hugged his godfather as hard as he could.

Sirius wanted to yell at him, wanted to roar, wanted to know what exactly was going on. But Harry was hugging him, and the only truly proper response was to hug him back. He pulled back to look at his godson and blinked in disbelief. "You're... pretty!"

"Why thank you kind sir," Harry grinned up at his godfather, pulling back and dropping into a curtsey. He was a little wobbly, this obviously wasn't something that had been practiced, but Harry's inherent grace kept him from falling on his bottom.

Sirius was still staring at him in shock. He knew that Malfoy Jr. and Snape had said the green-eyed boy was dressing as a girl, but this...?

"Come on to my room and we'll talk," Harry practically ordered, pulling Sirius after him as he headed towards his bedroom. "We'll see you at breakfast," he called back to Lucius.

Harry led the way into his bedroom and Sirius was flabbergasted once more. This was practically a girl's room. From the clothes in the wardrobe, the jewelry box, the make up kit... The only thing that reminded him of the boy he knew was the broom and broom care kit propped up by the balcony and the photo album that had pride of place on a bedside table.

"Give me a minute please," Harry asked, grabbing up underwear before heading into the adjoining bathroom to get changed. When he came out, Sirius was starting to wonder if one could die of too many shocks. Dressed simply in underwear and a bra, with his long black hair tumbling and curling around his body, there was nothing except Sirius' own memories to tell him that this was a boy in front of him. It got even worse as Harry slipped into a blue sundress, feeling that his normal green or silver might be a little much for his godfather's sensibilities. Looking over at Sirius' bulging eyes, it might already be too late.

Harry thought for a moment about changing into boy clothes until Sirius got used to the idea but decided he would get used to it faster if he stayed as he was. He settled on the chair in front of his vanity, turned so he could look at Sirius and started to brush his hair. Since Sirius still didn't seem to have control of himself, Harry decided it was up to him to start the conversation.

"So when did you get here?"

Sirius managed to shake himself out of his bemusement. "Yesterday afternoon, soon after you were locked in that room. I hear you made a map?"

"Yep. Thanks so much for the directions. It was really cool. There were at least half a dozen rooms that Lucius didn't have a clue about."

A knock on the door interrupted Sirius before he could ask what Harry knew was on the tip of his tongue. Harry wasn't sure whether to be happy about that interruption or not. He didn't particularly want to hear the rant and have the argument he knew was coming but he knew they needed to get it over with and out of the way.

"Come in," he said, loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door.

Draco poked his head in. "Here's someone else to talk to you and Father said breakfast is going to be in half an hour."

"Thanks Drake," Harry smiled. He smiled even wider at the person to come in the door. "Remy!" He ran over to throw his hands around the werewolf.

Remus hugged back, hard. "Hello Harry." He pulled back so he could take a look at the boy. "You look beautiful."

Harry blushed at the obviously sincere compliment and brushed a kiss over his cheek as a thank you.

"Hey!" Sirius complained. "How come I didn't get a kiss, I said you were pretty!"

Harry laughed. "Because when Remy said it, it was a compliment. When you said it, it was more like you couldn't believe it."

Sirius crossed his arms and pouted. Harry and Remy just laughed more.

Sirius hid his own smile, then let it fade. There were still no answers, and now even more questions. "Why did you ask us to come here?"

Harry put his brush down and turned all of his attention to his godfather. He took a deep breath. "Yesterday morning... I was adopted by Severus."

Only Remus' suddenly punishing grip on his arm kept Sirius in his seat. It didn't stop his mouth, though. "Adopted? What do you mean adopted? And why by him? Why the greasy git? He's a Slytherin! Your mother and father would be turning over in their graves!"

Harry closed his eyes tightly and looked down, but shook his head. "I don't think so. I think they'd want me to be happy. And this...," he shrugs. "It makes me happy."

"Why him?" and there was more than enough pain in that cry for Harry to hear the rest of it, 'why not me?'

"Because..." Harry tried to think of a way to put this that wouldn't hurt his godfather more, he couldn't find one. "Because from the moment he looked past his preconceptions, he was there for me. I always knew he'd be close by if I needed him. And yes," he said, raising his hand to stop the interruption he knew was coming, "I know I could have called you and you would have come as fast as you could. But... it's not the same. You couldn't be there when I had a nightmare and needed someone to talk to, when writing it down just wasn't enough And... I'm sorry Sirius, and I don't mean anything bad by this, but I can't just be myself with you."

Remus' fingers dug deeper into Sirius' forearm as he asked the next question. "What do you mean by that?"

"I just mean... if I want to sit in a room and just read or stare into the fire, I can do that with Severus, or here at the Manor. You always want to be doing something. You have this need to be up and about, like the world's going to pass you by if you don't reach out and grab it. I... well, I want it to pass me by."

"You are a little hyper," Remus gently chided the animagus.

"Anything else?" Sirius asked dully.

Harry looked away, his hands absently playing with his hair, braiding and rebraiding the same strands.

"Tell me," Sirius ordered.

"It's just... sometimes... not always," he hastened to assure, "just sometimes... I don't know if you see me... or my father." He didn't look up as he heard Sirius' indrawn breath. "It's just... you seem to expect me to be exactly like him. As if I'm nothing but a younger clone. And I'm not." He finally looked up and the words started bubbling out. "I'm not James, I'm Harry. I never really had a chance to know him, I can't be like him. I just... can't. And you keep expecting me to react a certain way, or do a certain thing, what *he* would do, and I don't know what you want! I'm not him! But you look at me like you're so disappointed. As if... as if as long as I'm just a younger James, everything can be like it was when you were at school, but if I do something different, if I act like Harry, it reminds you that they're gone and that hurts you. And I don't want you to hurt, I love you, but I can't be what you need me to be! I can't be James! And I'm sorry! I'm sorry," he finally wound down, tears pouring down his face.

Sirius tore away from Remus, not caring if he was leaving some flesh behind or not, and gathered Harry into a hug. Harry was still babbling apologies.

"Shh, shh, Harry, it's alright, it's alright," Sirius repeated mindlessly as he tried to calm the distraught young man down. Finally the sobs tapered off, and Sirius could literally feel his godson gathering his composure.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, and Sirius knew it wasn't a continuation of the other, but apologizing for breaking down, for, Sirius realized with a sinking feeling, not being a perfect Gryffindor... like his dad.

"No, Harry, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I do. I'm sorry I never saw what I was doing to you. I *never* meant to make you feel like that. You've got to believe me. You do look a lot like your father, but you're not him, I know. I *do* know. You do make me think of all I missed, but not your parents so much as *your* life. I was supposed to be there. I should have been there to help you grow up, to see you go to school, to take you on broom rides and see you play Quidditch for the first time. We had so many plans when you were born, and to know how you grew up, and most of all, know that a lot of it was my fault. *I* was the one that convinced James to switch secret keepers. Or if I hadn't gone after Pettigrew, then everyone wouldn't have thought I was the Death Eater and I could have raised you." Sirius looked in Harry's eyes as he made his confession.

"It wasn't your fault, Sirius. You did what you thought was best. There was no way you could have guessed what Wormtail did, any of it. You did the best you could. I know that." Harry shook his head. "Besides, you wouldn't have been allowed to raise me," he told him. "There's no way Dumbledore would have allowed that. Just like he didn't once you were freed. He wouldn't have been able to control me nearly so well if I was raised in an environment where I was taught to be independent and make my own decisions."

"Are you sure about that?" Remus asked intently. There were some things Albus had done he'd wondered about as well.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I am. But if we get talking about the Headmaster, we're going to get way off track." Remus agreed, and the subject was dropped for then. Harry turned back to Sirius and got back to the original subject. "I didn't agree to be adopted by Severus to hurt you. But I love him, and I'm really happy that he's my dad now. It doesn't mean that I'm going to forget my original parents, and it doesn't mean that you're going to stop being my godfather. Nothing is going to stop that, unless you want to stop." His eyes suddenly flew up to meet Sirius' once again as he had a thought. "You don't, do you?"

Sirius gathered him closer as he saw the fear in his eyes. "Of course not. You're my godson, no matter what. Nothing and no one is going to change that. Even if you let yourself be adopted by *Voldemort*, you'd still be my godson."

That got a chuckle, and a general relaxing of a tenseness Sirius hadn't realized the younger man was feeling.

A knock came on the door, and it opened almost immediately. Severus looked around, his eyes seeming to measure the feelings in the room. As he saw his son's tear-streaked face, he stalked in. "Is everything all right here?"

Sirius wanted to lambast him for walking into the room without permission, but seeing the concern in his eyes, he found he couldn't do it.

"Everything's fine, d... Sev," Harry said, changing his mind at the last minute as he looked up at his godfather.

Severus nodded, taking his word for it, though he obviously didn't believe it. "Are you coming down for breakfast? You're late."

"We'll be right there," Harry told him.

"Actually," Sirius butted in. "We'll be a few minutes. We still have something to discuss."

Severus looked at Harry and he nodded his agreement. "We won't be long though. I'm hungry."

"If you're not down in fifteen minutes, I'm coming back up here after you," Severus advised, glaring at Sirius in warning. He was obviously unhappy as he walked back out the door.

"What else do we need to talk about?" Remus asked once Severus had left.

Sirius just stared at Harry.

Harry hemmed and hawed, obviously trying to find some way to talk about it.

"What room was it and what spell was it?" Sirius decided to help him out, but only a little.

"It was the Honeymoon Suite. It was the second room we checked out, and I'm the one who pretty much forced everyone else to go there. I should have known better than to climb up on the bed."

"Why should you have known better?" Remus asked.

"Because the Malfoy's have always been a family that believed in arranged marriages." Harry explained. "Most times, from what I understand, the two getting married had never even met. So it's not really a surprise that the bed in the Honeymoon Suite would have a lust spell on it."

"A *lust* spell? And they left you in there with Malfoy?" Sirius roared. "How could they do that?" He tried to calm himself down, knowing his temper was one of the main problems he had and he really didn't want to fight with Harry. With the Malfoys and Snape, sure, but not with Harry. "Please tell me he didn't take your virginity."

Harry's blush and blinding smile answered that question. Though obviously *he* didn't think it was a bad thing.

"You don't seem too upset about that," Remus put into words something Sirius would never have been able to say.

"Why should I be?" Harry asked in surprise. "I mean, it was a little early, we hadn't planned on going that far until after our promise ceremony in a couple of weeks, but other than that..."

"Promise ceremony?" both men shouted together.

Part 68/?

"Oh yeah," Harry ducked his head and scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly. "I hadn't told you about that yet."

"You're getting promised" Remus began.

"To Lucius Malfoy?" Sirius finished in a roar.

Harry put his hands over his ears. He had been a little to close to his godfather at that point. "Yeah," Harry smiled again, and the sweet expression easily swept away most of their anger at least on Remus' part, though not their unhappiness.

"He's too old for you!" Sirius shouted. "I'm going to kill him! I'm going to hex him so bad he'll wish Voldemort found out he was a traitor!" He stormed towards the door, only to find it warded.

"I'm not going to let you kill my fiance just because you don't want him to be," Harry glared at his godfather.

"You can't mean that! They must have done something to you! Him and Snape both! They've brainwashed you or put you under Imperious, or *something*!" Sirius raved. "And if I kill them, then you'll be free!"

"And all alone in the world," Harry's quiet voice cut through the animagus' ranting. "Either that or I'll just lose you."

"What do you mean, all alone? I'll still be here."

"No, you won't. Either you'll attack them and they'll kill you for it, or you'll kill them and get sent to Azkaban for murder."

"No, I won't," Sirius scoffed.

"Yes, you would. Even if you managed it, I'd testify against you." Harry's voice was deadly serious.

"You can't mean that," Sirius gasped.

Harry crossed over to him. "Sirius, you're my godfather. You're one of the most important people in my life, but I'm not going to let you completely ruin all of our lives because you can't accept my choices. And they *are* my choices. Do you really think Severus was happy with the thought of me and Lucius being together? He hated it at first. He and Lucius had a fight about it. But it's not his choice either. *I* chose to be with Lucius. *He* chose to be with me. No one else had anything to say about it and even Severus understands that, now."

"He's too old for you," was the last gasp of a dying argument.

"Who says?" Harry answered back solidly. "So he's what? Nineteen years older than me? Who *cares*? He's the one I love. Period. I don't care about the age. I care about the fact that he is capable of understanding me that no one my age is. I care about the fact that I love him. What else is really important?"

"He just wants you because of who you are," was Sirius' last try.

"No, Siri, he's one of the few people in this world to whom that doesn't matter. To him I'm just Harry, and that's one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given."

"But..."

"Sirius, am I old enough and capable enough to make my own decisions?" Harry asked intently.

Sirius opened and closed his mouth.

"Yes or no?"

Remus sat up and watched with all of his concentration, praying in his mind that Sirius would answer this correctly, or he could mess up every relationship he had with the young man.

"Yes," Sirius finally said in defeat. "You are."

"If I can make my own decisions, then you have to abide by them, right?"

Sirius finally conceded the point. "Fine, I won't hex him, but don't expect me to be all friendly with him, either."

"As long as you're civil and you come to the promise ceremony, it'll be just fine," Harry told him.

"You're going to have to give me a while for this one," Sirius muttered.

"You've got two weeks," Harry told him seriously. "Because I want you there."

"We'll be there," Remus told him, his voice promising that he would work on Sirius, while he himself was going to take more of a wait and see approach.

Harry smiled back at him and then took a look at the clock as his stomach growled. Quickly he turned back around on the vanity, pulled his hair back in a simple ponytail with a big bow and covered up his scar before putting his make-up on. When he turned back around, the two men were stunned speechless once more. He had looked enough like a female before, take away the scar and with just a little bit of make-up and there was no sign besides his gleaming jade green eyes, that this was in any way, Harry Potter. Or Harry Snape for that matter.

They headed out the door. "You know," Remus said thoughtfully. "It's a good thing you're a boy."

"How so?" Harry turned to look at him as they walked.

"Well, chances are, there was more than one spell on that bed. Usually, in a honeymoon suite, they'd have not only a lust spell, but a fertility spell as well. That way they could have an heir on the way as soon as possible." Remus explained.

Harry stopped dead still, his hand suddenly reaching up to touch his stomach. "I... I could be pregnant?" he said breathlessly.

"No, no," Remus shook his head. "You don't have to worry about that. It would just make a male make more sperm and probably have more orgasms," ignoring Sirius' scandalized 'Moony!', "it wouldn't be the type that would allow males to get pregnant. That's a specialized spell, and since I can't imagine many Malfoy's would have arranged marriages with males, there would be no reason for that to be on the bed."

Harry glared. "You had to get my hopes up like that, meanie." He sulked all the way downstairs, with the other two trailing after him in confusion.

He slumped down in his chair and pouted.

Everyone else stared accusingly at Sirius. "It wasn't me!" he said, raising his hands and shaking his head in denial. "It was Moony."

At that everyone stared in surprise at the werewolf. That was unexpected.

Remus just shrugged. "I don't know what I said!" he countered. "I just said it was lucky he wasn't a girl, since the bed probably had a fertility spell on it, and he might have ended up pregnant."

Obviously that explained it to everyone else, though Harry just pouted more. "Went and got my hopes up," he muttered.

"Oh come on, Harry," Draco cajoled. "You don't really want to be pregnant at Hogwarts, do you? I mean, think of trying to keep up with your classes when you're eight months pregnant

and fat as a whale. Or having to leave the baby behind while you head off to classes. Plus you'd have to quit Quidditch, couldn't fly when you're pregnant you know, you might fall and hurt the baby."

"You've obviously thought about this," Lucius said humorously. "Should I wonder why?"

Draco answered very maturely, as benefitted a Malfoy heir. He turned around and stuck out his tongue.

Yet another thing managed to shock the last two Marauders. They never would have even considered this type of bantering between the Malfoy's Jr. and Sr. They especially couldn't see Sr. putting up with it, but he was playing right along.

"Hey, it's going to be my brother and sister," Draco sort-of explained. "And I want a brother or sister, but I'm not stupid, I figured out why, besides the fact that you're not actually going to be married until Harry graduates, you would want to wait."

"In other words, you talked to Hermione, didn't you?" Harry put in.

"Hey!" Draco complained.

"It does sound a little too logical for you," Severus replied with a smirk.

"What is this, pick on the beautiful one day?" Draco pouted.

"Of course not," Harry said immediately. "After all, we're picking on you."

"At least *you're* not pouting anymore." Draco answered back.

Harry manfully ignored him. He turned to Lucius. "Was there a fertility spell on the bed? I'm sure you checked it out."

"Yes, actually there was. As well as one to make sure the child would be a boy. However, Lupin is right, there was nothing that would make a male pregnant."

Harry pouted, though he meant it a lot less this time. Draco was right, being pregnant at school would be a pain. Especially since he'd be the only pregnant person there. He thought about that for a moment, frowning.

"Is something the matter?" Severus asked.

"I was just thinking. It's kind of surprising isn't it, that in a school completely comprised of teenagers, no one ever becomes pregnant? I mean, I know they find places to play around, but surely they don't remember the contraceptive charms all the time, can they?"

"I believe there's a contraceptive spell over the whole school," Severus said thoughtfully. "It has been the only thing I could ever find to explain it. Either that or the students at Hogwarts are very conscientious about waiting until they are out of school."

"Yeah, right," came from every person at the table.

"Even a contraceptive spell doesn't explain why no one ever comes back from summer vacation, or Christmas vacation, or spring break pregnant, even Hogsmeade weekends." Remus said thoughtfully.

"I honestly do not know," Severus admitted. "I just know that in all the years I have worked there, I have never seen a pregnant student, nor heard rumors of one leaving for that reason."

"Harry," Sirius said pensively, "You *want* to be pregnant?"

"Oh yeah," Harry answered immediately. "To have a family like that, a child that will love me, and that I can love unconditionally, yes, I do."

"How come you don't just become a girl? I mean, you seem happy dressing as one, and you want to have kids..."

Harry might have been annoyed, but Sirius seemed really interested so he thought about the question. "I don't know if I can really put it into words," he admitted. "I do like wearing these clothes, but not so much because they're girl's clothes as the simple fact they're comfortable... with a few notable exceptions, and they're pretty. The fact that I look nothing like myself is a good thing too. I've spent a couple of days as an actual girl, thanks to one of the twins pranks, and I can't say I enjoyed it. I just felt wrong. No matter what I look like on the outside, I'm male, and I prefer me to be that way. I like the fact that my breasts can come off, I'd like it even better if I could wear these clothes without them. Unfortunately, even the most flat-chested women still aren't as flat-chested as a man, and the clothes are made to hang over breasts. In other words, in my case, my breasts are just an accessory I use to make my clothes hang right, so I look nice. I really have no interest in having any of my own. And under no circumstances do I want to get rid of my prick. I happen to enjoy it quite a lot."

"I as well," Lucius murmured so softly only werewolf ears could hear him.

Remus found himself hiding a grin.


	24. Chapter 69, 70, 71 and 72

Another four chapters, aren't I nice? And the next set comes on my birthday! So if you want to be in my good graces, you have to wish me happy birthday next Monday, the first ^_^. Just kidding (thought it would be nice... )

Part 69/?

As they ate, the topics turned to other things.

"We got an owl yesterday from the tailor," Draco spoke up. "Jade's robes are ready for the final fitting."

"Who's Jade?" Sirius asked.

"It's the name I use when I'm out and around," Harry told him. "It'd be a lot easier for others to guess my secret if people, especially one's like Drake and Lucius, are calling me Harry. So, outside of these walls, if I'm female, I'm Jade Lillith Jameson."

"That makes sense," Remus murmured.

"Thanks," Harry smiled at him before turning back to Lucius. "When's the ball? And am I still going with you?"

"The ball is next Friday," Lucius informed him. "And it's up to you. There will be a lot more attention focused on me and my date than there would have been before I became the Minister."

"Not to mention one of the main subjects of conversation will probably be your adoption," Severus put in.

"I'll deal," Harry shrugged. "As long as I do actually get a chance to dance, of course."

"You're looking forward to a ball? I thought you couldn't stand them?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"I hate having to try to find someone to go with, someone who will probably be thinking of it as a date, even though I don't think of it that way, someone who's probably happier about the fact that she's with The-Boy-Who-Lived than anything else. Not to mention the fact that no one ever bothered to teach me how to dance, so I was busy trying to see what everyone else was doing and copying it. Now I don't have to worry about any of that, Lucius taught me how to dance, and I absolutely love it, and I'm going to be there with the man I love. Why would I not want to go?"

"Oh, come on, it can't really be all that bad being Harry Potter," Sirius complained.

"I wish you could see," Harry sighed.

Draco sat up straight. "Why couldn't he?" he suddenly grinned. Everyone looked at him. "It'd be perfect! We could go to Diagon and get our school stuff and let Jade get fitted for her robes. If Sirius came along as Harry, he could see what it's like for him."

Sirius looked interested, Severus did not. "I do *not* think so," he growled. "There is no way I'd be able to treat the mutt as my son, nor would he be able to pull it off. He's not that good of an actor."

"Hey!" Sirius protested.

Harry and Remus nodded. "He's right," Harry said.

Sirius pouted.

"Are you saying you could?" Harry asked him straight out. "Be with him all day and treat him like a father? Treat Draco as one of your best friends and Lucius as well? Not that you'd have to kiss him or anything, but we're still friendly."

"Thank you for that," Lucius muttered. The idea of having to kiss *Black!* even in his lover's body was enough to make him shudder.

"Of course I can act like I like the greasy haired git!" Sirius asserted.

"Well, there goes that idea," Draco muttered to everyone's snickers.

"What about me?" Remus asked quietly.

"What about you what?" Sirius wondered.

"What if I took on Harry's shape? I'd like to see what he's gone through as well." Remus admitted.

Remus found himself the center of everyone's calculating gaze.

"He probably could," Harry said thoughtfully.

"I can stand him," Severus grudgingly admitted.

"I don't have a problem with it," Draco agreed.

"As long as I don't have to kiss him either," was Lucius' only response.

"You do and you'll be sleeping in your own room for a week," Harry glared at his lover.

Sirius found himself growling lowly at the thought.

"Oh, get over it Siri!" Harry said, annoyed. "Even Severus has gotten used to it, at least once we started talking about making it permanent. Deal and move on, we're not breaking up."

"I told you it'd take some time," Sirius reminded him.

"I know. Actually, you're being a lot better about it than I expected." Harry admitted.

Sirius glared at him. "What, you were expecting me to go hexing everyone of them or something?"

"Yes," Everyone else at the table answered at once.

"Well," Sirius huffed. "I like that."

Everyone laughed.

"You know, none of this conversation matters if we don't have some Polyjuice nearby," Harry reminded them all.

All eyes turned to Severus. He sighed. "I believe I have enough of the potion to last him for a day."

"You've got to go back to work tomorrow, don't you?" Harry turned to Lucius. At his agreement, Harry continued. "Then we need to do this today. Can you get the potion?" he asked Severus. Severus nodded. He turned to Draco. "Can you contact Ron and Blaise and tell them we're headed to Diagon for school shopping? I'll owl Hermione." He turned to Remus. "Why don't you come up to my room and we'll find you something to wear."

Everyone watched with amusement as Harry ordered them all around.

"What are you waiting for? We have shopping to do!" He ignored the groans from the people who had been shopping with him before and headed up to the owlery. He stopped. "And has anyone seen Flick?"

"Is that that flying snake that threatened me yesterday?" Sirius frowned.

"Yeah, she's an Alaspinian minidrag. Wait a minute, she threatened you?"

"She took his actions toward Draco to be threatening, and responded to keep him safe," Severus explained to him. "When Draco told her that he was safe, she settled on a chair back. I don't recall seeing her leave and have not seen her since. That was in the library."

Draco also admitted he hadn't seen her since then.

Worried, Harry headed towards the library. Sirius and Remus followed him while the others went to get ready for the shopping trip. Lucius heading up to the owlrey to send a message to Granger, since Harry was preoccupied.

He looked around as they reached the library. There was no sight of his friend.

"Is something the matter?" the portrait on the wall asked.

"Hey Salazar. Have you seen Flick? No one's seen her since yesterday afternoon." Harry asked, not noticing his godfather's and friend's wide eyes as they realized who the picture was of.

"I talked with the young snake for a while after everyone left. She saw something out the window and went flying out just before sunset last night. She didn't say where she was going, I'm afraid."

"Thanks, anyway," Harry walked over to the window and peered out, but couldn't see or hear any hint of his scaly friend.

"Where could she have gone?" he asked softly.

Sirius and Remus came up on either side of him. "I'm sure she'll be fine," Sirius said in rough comfort. "She can more than take care of herself."

"She's not immortal. Or invulnerable," Harry reminded him, still looking out, calling Flick's name, but feeling and hearing no answer.

"But she is dangerous, and she knows how to take care of herself," Remus said gently. "There are few things that will mess with an Alaspinian minidrag, because there's almost nothing out there that's invulnerable to her venom. Besides, aren't there wards up to keep dangerous animals out of the Manor grounds?"

"They didn't keep her out," Harry answered.

"Maybe she just needed some time on her own," the werewolf then suggested. "She was a wild creature. Maybe there's too many people around."

"Maybe," Harry admitted. "But if just this few people are too many for her, how can she go with me to Hogwarts? She said she would, so she obviously didn't expect to have any problems. No, that doesn't make any sense, she's gone with me out into London. People don't bother her that much unless there's a lot of emotion around."

"Was there any reason there might have been a lot of emotion around last night?" Sirius wondered.

Harry thought for a moment then blushed as red as a Weasley's hair. "Um... maybe."

"How about this. Since Flick wouldn't go with us today anyway, we go ahead and go to Diagon like we planned, then if she's not back when we come back you should be able to use the Map to find her." Remus suggested.

Harry thought about it and finally agreed. After all, if Flick ran off because of too much lust, she might not be ready to be found yet. "Alright," he finally said and slowly walked out the door.

Part 70/?

"Did you find her?" Severus asked as he met them coming out of the library.

Harry shook his head.

"She'll be fine," Severus said softly, laying his hand on Harry's shoulder. If they'd been alone, he would have pulled him into a hug, but there was only so much of himself he'd show in front of the mutts.

Harry nodded. "She'll show up," he said, trying to believe it himself. "She wouldn't leave me."

"Of course not," Severus reassured him.

Harry looked at the vial in his hand. "Is that it?" At Severus' nod he looked confused. "How did you get there and back so quick? And that's not enough to last for a whole day, is it?"

"How I got there and back so quickly is... a secret," the edges of Severus' mouth tilted gently upward in what was almost a smile. "And yes, this is plenty for the day if the additive is willing blood. If you'd rather use hair, I will have to see if I can find more, and he'll have to drink some every hour."

Sirius was frowning. Snape was asking Harry to give up *blood*? He always knew he was a vampire. He decided to take another tack. "What if Moony doesn't want to drink something with Harry's *blood* in it?"

"And he'd rather drink something with my hair in it?" Harry pulled a gross out face. "Besides, have you ever *tasted* Polyjuice?"

"Well, no," Sirius had to admit.

"It's one of *the* grossest potions out there. At least of the ones I've tried. He doesn't want to drink it every hour if he can possibly get out of it, trust me."

"I do," Remus said firmly. "If you don't mind giving up some of your blood for the potion, then I don't mind drinking it."

"Brilliant." Harry answered. "Can we do it now, so I can get him changed?"

It was the work of only moments before Severus was able to extract the necessary blood from Harry's arm and add it to the polyjuice potion. He handed the vial to Remus. "Only half of it," he warned. "You'll still have to drink it a couple of times today, but only every four hours or so."

Remus took a deep breath and quickly swallowed the prescribed half. It was every bit as bad as Harry had warned, but then he drank Wolfsbane potion every month and it was just as vile.

The others watched in interest as the small werewolf got smaller, his hair darkened and lengthened and his eyes turned a brilliant green. He blinked and looked around.

"Is something the matter? Is it the potion?" Severus frowned as he asked.

"It's my eyes. I can't see. Everything is a big blur," Remus explained.

"Oh that," Harry smiled. He pulled his wand and called for his glasses. Once they reached his hand, he carefully placed them on Remus' face. "Is that better?"

Remus looked around and nodded. He turned to look at Harry. "I had no idea your eyes were that bad," he told him.

"You learn to compensate. And enchanted glasses that do it for you are very nice to have," he said, nodding at the pair Remus was wearing.

"Except for the long hair, he looks just like you," Sirius said softly.

"That's kind of the point," Harry reminded him. "And what do you mean, except for the hair?"

"Well, his hair is shorter than yours," Sirius explained. "Longer than any I've ever seen you with, but definitely shorter than what you have now."

"Probably because the potion used to grow your hair longer didn't actually grow it from the scalp, it just extended on what was already there. Therefore the longer hair isn't truly considered a part of your body," Severus explained. "If it had actually grown from the scalp, it would have shown up in the Polyjuiced form."

Harry nodded. "That makes sense." He turned to Remus. "Now come on. It's the first time out as Harry Potter-Snape, and we've got to make sure you're dressed appropriately."

Harry led the way back up to his bedroom. Before he did anything else, he checked all through the room, then opened the windows to look out. There was still no sign of Flick. He sighed and turned back to Remus.

"I hope you don't mind black. I kind of want to make it obvious that I'm a Snape now, so I want you to dress as much like Dad as possible with what I have."

"Do you call him Dad?" Remus asked, trying to make sure to get the act right, and manfully ignoring the grumbling dog in the corner.

Harry thought for a moment. "I would say no. I just got adopted remember, so I haven't had the right to call him that for very long. I usually call him Sev or Severus in private, but it's still Snape or Professor in public. You might want to ask him what he wants you to call him."

"What about the others? What do I call them, and will the ones joining us know something is up?"

"Lucius is Lucius or Mr. Malfoy, depending on who's around and how formal or serious you think the situation is. Draco is Draco, Malfoy or Drake, again depending on the situation. Think of Drake like Sirius or my father. Some places you'd call them Padfoot or Prongs, in those situations you can call him Drake. Most other times he'd be Draco. Ron, 'Mione and Blaise, that's Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin that's a good friend of Draco and me, all know about Jade, as well as the fact that I'm with Lucius. They don't know about the adoption yet. But that's one thing we're not hiding."

Harry reached into his carry-all and started pulling out clothes. Once he had most of his new wardrobe scattered about he started trying to decide what would be best. "Black," he decided, putting back most of the colored shirts and pants. "We want to make a statement. I'm Harry Snape and I'm bloody proud of that fact, so dressing as much like Snape as possible would be a good thing." He looked over what was left. "Not leather," was his next decision. "We don't actually want to scare anyone, or have everyone looking at our assets." The leather pants were put away.

Various combinations were then held up to the patient werewolf until finally Harry was happy with the look. Tight, though not skin tight, black jeans and a black silk long sleeve shirt. Once Remus got dressed, Harry looked at him and frowned. "Not enough," he muttered. He thought for a bit, looking around at all of the things still out and then it hit him. "Okay, got it!" he exclaimed, rushing over to the wardrobe and pulling out a snake belt. Moving over to his jewelry box, he picked out more of the snake set he'd gotten but were too masculine for him as Jade. He picked out an armlet that was in the shape of a snake spiraling around and a ponytail holder in the same style. Added to the black clothes and hair, the silver snakes with emerald eyes certainly made a statement. A black cloak finished the look.

"Merlin's ghost," Sirius said in an awed voice. "I could almost believe you were that bloody Slytherin's son."

"That's kind of the point," Harry said humorously.

"Won't I be a little hot in these?" Remus asked. Long sleeved black in the middle of August? Even if it was silk, it would still be hot, especially with the cloak.

"Cloak has cooling charms, you'll be fine," Harry brushed the thought away. He walked over and looked at himself in the mirror. "What do you think? Should I wear this or get changed?"

"You look fine," Sirius said dismissively.

"That's helpful," Harry muttered. He walked over to the wardrobe to get himself a belt, the one with a small dragonling as a buckle. A quick charm braided his hair before he walked over to the makeup kit. A touch up and another charm to keep it from coming off and Harry was ready.

"Okay, let's go," Harry ordered, heading out the door.

"Um... Harry?" Remus' voice stopped him before he could leave. Harry turned around and raised one eyebrow in question. Remus looked down at his bare feet.

"Oops," Harry muttered. Another quick check of his carry-all and he pulled out a pair of low black boots with silver buckles.

Now that they were ready, they headed down to the dining room which contained the biggest fireplace, one of only two in the Manor that were connected to the Floo Network.

As the three walked into the room, everyone looked over at them. Harry couldn't help but notice the interest Lucius showed in Remus. His eyebrow cocked as he glared at his lover.

"It's only because he looks like you, love," Lucius explained.

Severus' look was approving. Those clothes were entirely suitable.

Draco, however, was frowning.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked worriedly.

"You two look like siblings," he announced.

Everyone else took a second look at the two of them together. They had to agree it was true. They didn't look like the *same* person, but with similar heights, bone structure and those stunning green eyes, they most certainly looked related.

"That's not really a surprise," Remus reminded them. "We are the same person, practically."

"Yes, but it might get remarked on," Lucius said unhappily.

Harry grinned mischievously. "I could wear that outfit I came down in just before Ron, Hermione and Blaise came over that first time. Nobody would be looking at my face then."

"No!" Severus and Lucius seemed to be trying to beat each other in getting the negative out.

"And what's wrong with anything he might want to wear?" Sirius snapped.

Draco decided to explain. "It was a *very* short black leather skirt, and a top that didn't cover more than his breasts. Very scandalous."

"Harry!" Sirius said, shocked.

"What?" Harry said, laughing. "It got the reaction I was looking for. Lucius certainly liked it."

Sirius growled.

"Oh, get over it," Harry muttered. He thought for a moment, but couldn't think of a way to make the differences between them more extreme since both were going to be out in public at other times. Then again, how likely were they to meet someone they'd see at the ball, who would notice if certain slight differences were made. And he could use makeup to change the lines of his face. Changing the color of his contacts wouldn't be that difficult, and adding some height would be easy with high heels. He nodded. "Give me a couple of minutes."

When he came back down he was happy to see himself, his dad and Draco all talking. They were the ones who could help Remus out the best. Everyone looked at him in surprise, especially at the much duller green, almost hazel eyes staring back at them.

"How could you do that?" Remus asked. "Changing your eye color is dangerous."

"Not if you don't change it," Harry waved it off. "I just changed the color of my contacts. Small glasses that fit right on the eye instead of on your face," he explained. He walked over and hooked his hand through Remus' arm. "What do you think?" he asked the others.

"Much better," Draco answered.

They headed out the fireplace.

Part 71/?

It didn't take long at all for the others to see what Harry had been talking about. It had taken only one person.

"That's Harry Potter!" a witch announced loudly to her friend as the disguised Remus followed Severus through the Floo depository.

It was obvious that some of those who would have come up to 'Harry' were scared away by Severus' glare, but not all. By the time everyone had exited the Floo, Remus was surrounded by almost a dozen people, all of them trying to touch him, talk to him. His friends gathered around him, protecting him from the people and bulling their way through the gathered crowd.

They met the other three teenagers in front of Gringotts Bank.

"Now what?" the real Harry asked, while the adults rushed them all into the bank and moved them to a secluded spot.

"Who cares about that, what's going on? How are there two of you?" Ron hissed.

"Sirius and Remus didn't believe how difficult it was to be me right now, so Remus took Polyjuice," Harry explained.

"Wizard," Ron murmured, looking between the two of them. "But then, why're you dressed like Snape?" he asked Remus.

"Because Harry Potter is now Harry Snape," Remus explained softly.

Blaise was the first to understand and react to that. "Congratulations," he reached over and hugged Harry, backing up quickly when he heard the low growl coming from Draco's father.

"Yes, he's right, congratulations," Hermione also hugged Harry hard. Not being chased away by a possessive boyfriend, that one went on slightly longer.

"I don't understand why, but if you're happy with the greasy gi... potion master, I guess that's all that matters," Ron said grudgingly. He got a hug from Hermione for his restraint.

"Now that that is over with," Severus interrupted, "what was wrong when you came in?" His benign gaze fell on the three teenagers and they were all surprised not to see a hint of malice in it, something that was usually there under almost all circumstances, especially when Ron was around.

"Well I can't go to my vault like this, and Remy can't go as me, the Goblins wouldn't allow that. But I don't have enough money with me for all my school stuff." Harry explained.

Severus just looked at him. "Who am I?" he finally asked.

"Severus Snape," Harry answered, confused. Severus' silence prompted him to expand upon that. "The potion's professor... my father."

"Correct," Severus agreed. "Now would someone here like to explain to Mr. Snape, just exactly *who* is supposed to pay for a student's school paraphernalia?"

"His parents!" the rest of the teenagers chorused.

"But I can afford it," Harry protested.

"That has absolutely nothing to do with it," Snape glared. "I am your father, therefore there are certain things that are my responsibility."

Harry opened his mouth, but found himself swatted from several different directions.

"Never argue with a parent who wants to buy you something," Draco told him.

"It's harder to get them to buy you something you really want, if you argue about buying stuff they want to buy you," Blaise continued.

"If he wants to buy them, let him," Hermione told him.

Ron didn't even need to say anything, his expression said it all.

"Fine, fine," Harry rolled his currently pale green eyes. "Thank you Daddy, for buying my school supplies."

"You're welcome," Severus said solemnly, "but if you call me Daddy again, you're going to be cleaning out cauldrons for the rest of the summer."

"Yes sir," Harry grinned, the threat obviously not phasing him at all.

Lucius and Severus left the six of them with only Sirius an obvious adult as they headed towards their own vaults.

"So what do you think so far about being Harry Potter?" Harry asked Remus. "Keep in mind, last time I didn't have any adults around to handle some of it."

"I can't believe this," Sirius complained. "Don't they have any idea about privacy and personal space?"

"Not when you're a celebrity," Harry sighed.

"I thought some of those people were going to take a piece out of me," Remus admitted.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Hermione told him, remembering how Harry had looked returning from that ill-fated Hogsmeade trip.

Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't realize what you were going through."

Harry shrugged. "I found my way around it," he reminded Sirius.

"I got that," was Sirius' response.

"Are you ready to go?" came from behind them. They turned to find Severus and Lucius waiting for them.

They headed out the front door of the bank only to stop at the sheer amount of noise roaring up at them. In front of them were hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, all pushing and shoving, trying to get closer to their idol.

"I will deal with this," Severus said darkly.

He walked forward to the top of the steps and glared down. Slowly most of the crowd, many of whom had had him as a teacher sometime in the past fifteen, twenty years, quieted down.

Severus cast 'Sonorous' on his voice before he began to speak. "Why are you all here?"

One brave soul spoke up. "To see Harry Potter!"

"He does not want to see you. He does not know you, nor does he care to. Leave, now." Severus wasn't cutting anyone any slack. "You are interrupting the businesses around here, as well as our shopping trip."

"You don't have the right to tell us that," the same person says.

"You are incorrect." He turned and held out his hand. Remus, as Harry, came forward to join him. "As the father of Harry Potter-Snape, I have every right to tell you to stop harassing my son. I would also make it clear that I will not hesitate to hex or curse *anyone* who puts a hand on him without his permission."

"You can't do that!" Several people complained loudly.

"I have the right to protect my child!" Severus disagreed.

"Harry would never be related to an ex-Death Eater like you!" one person yelled from the safety of anonymity.

Lucius stepped forward, and his glare did as much to silence the crowd as Severus' had. "I myself witnessed the adoption of Harry Potter by Severus Snape. I have no doubts that it was something Harry truly wanted."

"That's right," Remus as Harry spoke up. "Severus adopted me yesterday, and I'm extremely happy about it. Now please, go away and let me and my friends and family shop in peace."

"And if you don't," Lucius purred darkly, "I will have you all arrested for obstructing businesses and assault."

"Assault?" the original spokesperson asked, shocked.

"Last time this happened, a group gathered like this wanting to see Harry, over a dozen of people ended up going to St. Mungo's or the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, he was one of them," Hermione stepped forward and told them.

"It will not happen here." Severus warned them.

"Leave, before I call the Aurors to take you in," Lucius told the crowd.

"And anyone who decides to 'run into' us while we're shopping, I know all of Harry's friends. If you are not one of them, you will be hexed." Severus warned one more time.

The two dangerous men stood and glared at the crowd until they started to break up. Only when almost all the loiters were gone did they lead the way down into the Alley so the children could get back to shopping.

Too bad that wasn't the end of it.

Part 72/?

It seemed some people had shown up too late for the general announcement. On their way to Flourish and Botts, a young witch ran forward. Ignoring everyone else, she threw herself at 'Harry'. "I love you Harry Potter! Please, say you'll marry me!"

Severus quickly put a dancing hex on her while 'Harry' gently pushed her off, blushing wildly. She danced off down the street still protesting that she loved Harry and they were meant to be together.

"It's a good thing it's not your godfather wearing your skin," Severus whispered quietly in the real Harry's ear. "He's a dog when it comes to women."

Harry giggled and moved over to Draco to share the joke. They laughed together as they walked arm in arm.

"You might have to watch out there," Sirius whispered to Lucius, nodding towards where the two were walking together.

"Only if Harry decides to become a woman for real," Lucius murmured back, surprised at the fact there was no heat in Sirius' statement. He had to admit they did look like a couple. Then again, he wouldn't put it past his lover to be doing it on purpose, just to muddy up the waters from the picture after their last date. Harry's quick glance back and almost indistinguishable wink seemed to give weight to that thought.

The group of them walked into the bookstore. The owner rushed up to them. "Mr. Potter, how wonderful to see you! Do you think while you're here you could sign some copies of your biography?"

"My... biography?" Remus/Harry asked in confusion. He turned around to find everyone else, including the real Harry, was looking just as confused as he was. He turned back to the manager. "What are you talking about?"

The manager blinked and led them to a display in the middle of the store. A fairly unhappy picture of Harry looked back at them from the front of hundreds of books titled 'Behind the Scar: The true story of the life of England's premier hero as told to Roylock Gildhart'.

"Roylock Gildhart, why does that name sound familiar?" Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Sounds too much like Gilderoy Lockhart to me," Ron muttered with a shudder.

"That's because it is, just switched around" Severus moaned. "How dare that stuck up poser do something like this?"

Remus picked up one of the books and looked at the back. He read the summary out loud. "'The true story of the life of Harry James Potter, from his low birth,'"

"Low birth? The Potters were only slightly below the Malfoys," Sirius remarked angrily.

"'to his years being raised and taught in a cave by a descendent of Merlin'"

"What?" was screamed from a number of mouths at once.

"I'm not through," Remus said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry," several, although not all, muttered.

"'to his years and illustrious feats in the Halls of Learning that is Hogwarts and his final battle and glorious defeat of the greatest Dark Lord that has ever been.'"

"Yeah, right," the Malfoys and Snapes responded.

"'This book is the quintessential biography of that great man. Included herein are quoted comments from the man himself on life, love and what he plans to do once he graduates and moves out into the world.'" Remus finally stopped reading and turned to the manager. "Actually, it sounds like printed within is a complete and utter load of rubbish."

"It's what was sent," the manager tried to explain. "We were promised it was nothing but the truth."

Severus stepped forward. "Whoever promised you that has even less brains than the man that wrote it, and I did not believe that was possible. I would suggest that you get it off your shelves and sent back where it came before you're sued. It is, I believe, illegal to write such blatant falsehoods and try to pass them off as truths, and that includes selling such rubbish to the unsuspecting public. I would also like the name of the publisher and agent. Obviously, I will have to instigate legal action against both for their libel against my son."

"Um... yes, of course. I'll get you that information right away," the manager stuttered, racing off.

Meanwhile, the younger generation was grabbing books. It wasn't long before laughter burst forth.

"Listen to this," Ron laughed. "'Knowing he had to leave and go to school, Harry kissed his girlfriend, the fairy princess Lilac, good-bye, lifted himself onto his noble steed and rode off into the sunset.' Hey, 'Mione, wasn't Lockhart's favorite color lilac?"

Hermione nodded absently, reading her own book. "Oh honestly! Listen to this, 'Having learned all he needed to know from Merlin in his younger years, of course Harry didn't need to study for his O.W.L.S. His scores were of course perfect in every way, but unfortunately there was no score above O.' Really, if that's so, how come you came in third for the year?"

"Obviously the two of us must have been tutored by the Founders to have gotten better grades," Draco answered easily. "By the way, did you know that the reason Harry knows Parseltongue is because he can speak the language of *every* creature in the world? And that he killed the basilisk, which by the way was about half a kilometer long, with his magic sword 'Excaliber' by slicing him completely in half?"

Blaise suddenly started laughing even harder than before. It got so bad that he had to put down the book so he could hold onto his stomach as he hooted.

"What? What?" Ron asked.

Harry reached over and checked the page number then opened his own copy to that page. It wasn't long before he started giggling which expanded into full-blown belly laughs.

Taking their hint from him, the others checked the page number and turned to it in their own books. It didn't take them long to find the passage that had driven their friends into hilarity. Soon their laughs joined in.

Sirius, Severus and Lucius, who had all remained standing talking about the legalities while the others sat on the floor looking at the books, looked down at the laughing mass with almost identical surprised expressions, though Severus and Lucius got theirs under control quickly. Finally, having to know what was so funny, Sirius reached down and picked up one of the open books.

He looked over the page they had been reading, then shrugged, confused. He turned to the others. "Who was this Gilderoy Lockhart?"

Severus looked as if he'd asked what the spot on the carpet the dog left behind was. Lucius was the one that answered. "He was the DADA teacher before Lupin, in their second year. He was a glory loving blowhard who found people that fought, found out what they did, memory charmed them and then wrote about their exploits as if he was the one to do them. He was completely incompetent, and from what I understand he preferred hanging around Harry, hoping some of his glory would rub off on him. Harry couldn't stand the man."

"Ah, so this statement that Harry's burning ambition in life was to apprentice himself to Lockhart who he's been desperately in love with since Second Year, isn't likely to be true?" Sirius asked with twitching lips.

Severus looked revolted. "I think not!"

"Please!" Blaise scoffed now that he had some of his breath back. "That's obviously me he's describing!"

Severus looked down at his student. "If your taste is truly that atrocious, I believe Hagrid might have some flobberworms you would be interested in."

Remus looked up at Severus. "That's just gross, dad," he said, fully in character. Of course, he'd had the bad luck of running into the golden haired gloryhound once a couple of years before he'd gotten himself Obliviated.

"And Blaise with Lockhart isn't?" the real Harry answered still giggling slightly.

"Anyone with Lockhart is," Ron muttered.

"Considering he spent half his time trying to get into Severus' pants, you should be glad he is so disagreeable." Lucius smirked.

That shut everyone up and they were all looking at the Potions Master in shock. "He could have been my stepmother?" Remus/Harry almost shrieked. Harry had to give him good points for acting, because that was *exactly* what he wanted to say.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "And what ever gave you the idea that *my* taste is that bad?" he sneered.

"Well," Draco smirked. "You did say you had dated Black at one point in time."

"Hey!"

And the laughter went on.


	25. Chapter 73, 74 and 75

Heading towards the end! For those wondering where this plot twist ends, it's not until the sequel. Sorry I didn't get this out last night, but I was at work until after seven, then so tired I was in bed before nine, so I just never got a chance to put it out. Actually, I considered working that late to be a bit of a present... a principal is not going to ask you to stay around and meet the parents if she's not fairly serious about actually giving you the job. Fingers are still crossed, I should know by the end of the week whether I have it or not.

Part 73/?

After the manager had given Severus the names he demanded and removed the offensive material, except for the books they kept for themselves for the sheer humor potential, they quickly gathered the books on their supply list. While there Hermione gathered the courage to ask Professor Snape about the new DADA professor. Unfortunately, besides knowing there was one, he didn't have any further information. Whoever it was had not yet shown up to start getting ready for the school year, nor had Dumbledore bothered to tell anyone who it was, even when asked.

None of them were too happy with that thought, why would he be keeping it a secret?

"Surely it can't be worse than Quirrel," Harry muttered.

"Lockhart was way worse than Quirrel," Ron told him.

"Lockhart? What about Moody? Who wasn't even Moody," Draco snarled.

"I don't suppose it's you or Professor Lupin," Hermione said to Sirius.

"Merlin forbid," Severus muttered.

Sirius smirked back at the Potions Professor, but had to admit it wasn't either of them.

"Well, last year's wasn't too bad," Blaise admitted. "A total incompetent who wouldn't know a vampire if it bit him in the neck, but at least he didn't try to kill anyone. At least not as far as I know."

All the others had to admit they hadn't heard anything too bad about the man, but it wasn't likely he was coming back. Dumbledore had put Slytherin and Gryffindor together in every year for his classes, and the fights had been far more than he could handle. Just because Gryffindor's golden boy was getting along with Slytherin's silver prince didn't mean the Houses were getting along.

"I noticed there weren't any Divination books in that stack for you, Harry. Does that mean you're finally dropping that useless class?" Hermione asked.

"Indeed," Severus answered for Remus, knowing he wouldn't know the exact answer to that and there were too many people around for Harry himself to answer. "Three years is far too much time to waste coming up with strange ways it is possible to get killed. I believe he will be taking Ancient Runes and Magical Theory instead."

"You mean you're leaving me alone in there?" Ron cried.

"It's not my fault you didn't get out when you could," Remus told him, that being something he could answer.

They were having a harder time moving as the crowd seemed to be getting bigger. Nobody was *obviously* staring at Harry, but it was still apparent why they had come. Severus and Lucius had no problem moving through the crowd, no one was stupid enough to get in their way. However, the younger and smaller members of the group were having a bit more trouble. Finally they got through it and out into clear air. Harry looked around.

"Where's R... Harry?" he asked worriedly.

Draco, who was still walking next to him, looked around as well. "Blaise!" he called. "Where is he?"

Blaise knew exactly who he was talking about, but he didn't have an answer. Since Draco and Harry had paired together and Ron and Hermione were of course paired together, he'd found himself paired with the fake Gryffindor for most of the day. However, unlike the others, they hadn't been holding hands, and he wasn't sure where the other had gotten lost.

"I don't know, I didn't notice him disappear." Blaise answered.

By now everyone had managed to gather in a small group. "No idea where you lost him?" Sirius asked.

"I'm afraid not," Blaise said unhappily.

"It'll be okay," Harry soothed. "He can take care of himself until we find him. But lets find him quick just in case."

They split up, making sure an adult was with each group this time. Harry and Draco joined up with Sirius, since they weren't sure how his combat skills were and knew they were the best of the younger group. Severus and Lucius they didn't worry about.

Each group took a section of the Alley and started searching. Severus, Ron and Hermione were the first to get wind of something unusual going on. Following the sound they found Remus backed up against a wall. Surrounding him was a cross-section of wizarding society. Male, female, old, young, rich, poor, everyone talking at once. Severus soon managed, with an injudicious use of death glares and hexes, to frighten them all away.

By the time Sirius, Harry and Draco found them, Remus had almost lost the wild-eyed look of a trapped wolf.

"This is ridiculous!" Remus hissed. "In five minutes, I got propositioned by four different people, touched and groped by at least a dozen, and one person even wanted me to try to heal her baby! I'm not a healer, what did she think I could do?"

The others surrounded him and led him out as he continued to rant. "I had one person complaining that there were vampires on his property and I needed to come take care of them and somebody else asking if I ever used their product and what did I think of it and could they get it in writing. I'd never even heard of the bloody thing! One woman asked if I would be the father of her baby, since she wanted strong babies, and another who wanted to know if I was going to become the next Dark Lord, because if I was, he would follow me! What is wrong with these people?"

Sirius was staring at his friend in shock. He'd very rarely seen the werewolf so overwrought. He chanced a glance back at his godson, who was being supportive without seeming the least bit surprised. How was anyone supposed to live like this?

Draco was looking around as they walked when he suddenly realized something. "Uh-oh," he muttered.

"What's the matter *now*?" Ron groaned.

"When we paired up to go searching, my father and Blaise ended up together," Draco reminded them.

Hermione and the real Harry groaned. Harry turned to glare at Draco. "You just *had* to tell your father that Blaise had a crush on me, didn't you?"

"Don't worry," Hermione murmured. "Mr. Malfoy won't kill him here. Too many witnesses."

Sirius was startled once more. All this that Remy was complaining of, all that had happened to the fake Harry and without a doubt to the real one as well, ignored... as if it were commonplace. What kind of life did he have... did all of them have... that this type of thing was considered normal?

Lucius and Blaise caught up with them mere moments later, and if Blaise was a little bit paler than he'd been when they'd left, and if Lucius seemed to have a gleam of satisfaction in his eye, no one mentioned it.

The trips to the Apothecary and Madam Malkin's, even Quality Quidditch Supplies, went much easier than the rest of the day so far. There were still an excess of people standing around with nothing better to do than stare and talk, but the older members of the group, now including an extremely irate Sirius Black, kept them out of touching distance.

Harry wouldn't let anyone see him in the robes he was going to wear to the dance, but he came out looking very happy with them.

With the shopping finally done, they gathered in the backroom of a local wizarding restaurant. After they placed their orders and the house elves had brought their food, they set up privacy spells and started to talk.

"I know you've only been out, as Harry, a couple of times since Christmas, but you seemed very... unsurprised at what Remus was going through," Sirius remarked.

"What? Marriage proposals, business proposals, propositions, people thinking I'm the answer to every problem they have? Yeah, I'm used to it. I'm just not very used to it in person. There's a very large storeroom down in the dungeons that is full of mail like that. Any mail that comes for me that is from someone I don't know personally, automatically goes there. I try to go through it when I have free time." Harry explained.

"Why do you bother going through it?" Lucius asked with interest.

Harry shrugged lightly. "Some of the gifts are alive, and they have to be dealt with. And some of the letters are nice. The ones that are just happy... or the ones from kids. They deserve responses. Most of the rest, I just ignore."

"Oh!" Remus exclaimed. "That reminds me. Someone slipped me a letter during that crowd. I found it when looking for money at Honeyduke's." He pulled out a letter and went to hand it to Harry.

Harry's eyes grew wider before a blank expression showed on his face as he took the letter and stuck it into his own pocket. "I'll look at it later," he said airily.

Unfortunately for him, the people around him knew him too well. His blank expression was an immediate warning that something was wrong.

"Harry? What's the letter about?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"It's nothing," Harry said.

Severus didn't bother asking anymore. Instead, he used his wand to call the letter to himself. If Harry had fought him over it, which he seemed about ready to do, it would have been a struggle, but Harry couldn't use his wand, and wandless mage against wanded mage, the one with the wand would win.

Harry considered setting the letter on fire, but he had no doubt his father would be able to reconstruct it. Instead, he sighed, dropped his eyes to the tabletop and waited.

Severus carefully opened the letter. His face was blank as he read it through. He put it down, not saying anything when Draco snatched it up, as he stared at the hidden face of his son.

Draco looked deeply shocked.

"Well?" Ron asked impatiently. "What's it about?"

"It's a death threat!"

Part 74/?

"It's a what?" Hermione shrieked.

"From who?" Ron asked.

Everyone except Lucius, Severus and Harry started talking as they passed around the note. What it came down to was an argument over who sent it and what they should do about it. Finally, Lucius' voice cut through the babble.

"I think you're all ignoring the most important part of this," he said in a dangerously hard voice.

Everyone quieted as they turned to look at him. He and Severus had identical blank looks on their faces, which usually meant there was something big going on underneath. Both of them were glaring at Harry, who's eyes were still on the table.

"What's that, father?" Draco finally found the courage to ask.

"If Harry could take one look at it, and know exactly what it was, that means one of two things. Either he has suddenly come upon great clairvoyant powers... or he's received them before, and with a sufficient frequency that he's memorized what the envelope looks like. And from the reactions of the others at this table, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone."

"I told you, it's nothing." Harry muttered. "I've gotten them for months and nothing has ever happened."

"For. Months." Severus bit out harshly.

"Look," Harry said, exasperated. "We knew that there were going to be people who disliked me. Yeah, *most* of the Death Eaters didn't want to be there, but some did, and some actually ended up dead, which means they've got families that are going to blame me for their deaths. The occasional death threat was expected."

"That still doesn't explain why you couldn't be bothered to tell me," Severus purred dangerously.

"Because you would have gotten all bent out of shape about it," Harry said in the petulant tones of a child who knows he's done wrong but will be damned if he'll ever admit it.

Severus kicked his glare up a notch and everyone else slowly eased away from Harry. He could court death and dismemberment if he wanted to, but they weren't going to get involved.

Harry just glared back mulishly and the tension ratcheted up another notch. However, not only did Snape have far more years of glaring under his belt, but Harry was in the wrong and knew it. Finally, the boy dropped his eyes.

"I get one every couple of weeks," he finally admitted. "They're pretty much always the same and they usually show up either by direct owl or they just turn up somewhere, like today. I've tried tracking and a 'who's the writer' type spell that archivists and archeologists use, but never got anything. We might want to try it on this one though, after all, they couldn't have had much chance to get it ready since no one knew we were coming. It had to be created quickly."

"Or it had already been written and was being carried around just in case," Lucius suggested.

Hermione sat forward. "Harry, when you were talking about it, you said 'they'. Why they? Why not he or she?"

Harry looked thoughtful. "I'm not real sure, but I guess I do think it's more than one person." He shrugged. "I don't have evidence to back it up though, if that's what you're asking. It's just a feeling. However, at least one of them has to be a student. There's no other way they could have gotten them into my stuff like that."

"While this is all very interesting," Severus murmured. "It still does not answer the most important question. Why didn't you tell anyone?" The codicil, 'why didn't you tell me?' was understood by everyone there.

"You're blowing this all out of proportion," Harry tried to explain. "Just like I knew you would. *That's* why I didn't tell you."

"Blowing it out of proportion!" Severus roared.

Lucius, watching, noticed that while Harry flinched, there was no look of fear in his eyes. It said a lot for the relationship between the two that even as angry as he was, Harry didn't believe he would hurt him. He couldn't help but wonder if under similar circumstances, would his lover be as unafraid of him?

"Yes! Blowing it out of proportion!" Harry yelled back. "Nothing happened! No unexplainable accidents, no near misses, nothing! I didn't tell you because it's just someone's idea of a joke."

"And did you know that the first time?" Severus countered harshly.

"I figured," Harry answered back.

Severus stalked around the table and stood right in front of his new son. "Let me make this clear, just so there isn't any confusion. There are certain things I, as your father, need to know. If you are having problems, whether it's death threats, school work or other students; I need to know!" That reminded him of something. "Do you remember when you wouldn't tell anyone you were sick?"

Harry blanched. "It's not the same thing," he hurried to assure him.

"It's *exactly* the same thing!" Severus responded. "You hid what could be a life threatening problem. Didn't you?"

Harry opened his mouth to disagree. But Snape's black eyes cut through his arguments. Reluctantly he nodded.

"What's this about him being sick?" Lucius asked.

Severus explained. "Harry had been having persistent stomach aches. He felt it best, however, not to tell anyone about them, not wanting to *bother* us. At least it didn't bother us until he collapsed in the middle of class. His appendix burst. If he'd gone to Poppy or me, it could have been handled easily without any pain, however, since he couldn't be *bothered* to do that, he ended up in the Hospital Wing for almost a week after surgery."

"I've promised to tell you when I'm sick," Harry said petulantly. "What else do you want?"

Everyone stared at him for that. He thought over his words and the discussion and blushed bright red. "That was a stupid question, wasn't it?" he muttered.

"Yes," pretty much everyone else answered.

Severus smirked and Harry worried. "I'm so glad you volunteered to help me set up my classroom for the next year. And rearrange the storerooms. Plus there's that report you have to write me. I sincerely hope you didn't have any plans for the next week or so."

"Not a report," Harry cried. "I'll gladly do the others, but that last report was almost 10 feet long!" He turned to his lover. "He made me research and write a paragraph on every single illness or injury that has a stomach ache as a symptom. It took forever!"

Lucius held up his hands in a 'don't get me involved' manner. He had the feeling Harry's punishment would include sleeping at the school and he wasn't too thrilled that he'd have to be sleeping alone before school actually started, but he fully agreed that Harry was in the wrong, and it was Severus' job to punish him for that. He would go along with whatever his friend decided upon.

"What about Flick? And the dance?" Harry argued.

"If you finish everything by then, you'll still be able to go to the dance," Severus told him firmly. "As for Flick, we're going back to the Manor so you can get your things, you may look for her then. If she's not around, Draco or Lucius can call you when she comes in and you'll be allowed to go pick her up."

"Can I call Lucius?" Harry asked, resigned.

"*If* you get everything done for the day, I'll allow you to talk to him for half an hour every night. If you're really good, I might allow you to go visit."

"Yes, sir," Harry meekly replied.

"Let's go," Severus swept out of the room, expecting his son at least to follow him.

Harry looked around at his friends hoping for sympathy.

Ron shrugged. "You're the one that wanted him for a father," he reminded him.

With that helpful comment, Harry followed the professor out of the restaurant.

Part 75/?

The next week was a study in frustration for Harry. His father wanted to make absolutely sure he knew *exactly* how unhappy he was that he'd kept that information from him. Every moment that he wasn't working on putting together the classroom and storage rooms, something he admitted had to be done before school started so it wasn't just make work, he was working on the reports Snape had demanded. Three of them. One, the shortest by far, and yes, he did understand what Severus was getting at, was of people that had received death threats without any follow thru. The second was of witches and wizards that had been killed by people who had sent them threats, and the last was of people who had had assassinations foiled by increased security because of the warning. Since he had to research *every* one who had gotten a death threat in the past five hundred years, it was taking quite a bit of time, several Dark Lords seemed to prefer for their enemies to know they were coming. Harry was determined however, not willing to give up his chance to go dancing with his lover one last time before school started.

Flick hadn't been around when they had reached the Manor, nor had she shown up on the Map. The first question Harry asked Lucius on the nights he was able to talk with him was if she had shown up. Even knowing he would have been called if she had, did not make his disappointment any less as the answer continued to be no.

Harry turned to look at the bright green and red snake curled around the nearby chair back. Severus had told him how she came and he really wished he could have seen it. He could imagine it though.

Severus was patently ignoring all that was going on around him. The staff meeting would be starting as soon as the last staff members, still without the new DADA professor, arrived. He was easily ignoring the questions from other staff members on the adoption. Mostly, however, he was ignoring Dumbledore, who had been trying to speak to him for the past several days. He was extremely thankful that he and Harry had redone the wards on his room. Now, even Dumbledore couldn't go through them without permission, which he certainly was not going to receive. He'd gotten a great deal of pleasure out of telling the meddling old fool that the relationship between himself and Harry was absolutely none of his business.

Madam Sprout burst into the room all aflutter. "Headmaster, you must stop him! He's gone too far this time!"

Dumbledore never lost that annoying twinkle. "Whatever has happened, my dear?"

"Hagrid! He's got another... *creature*. It's dangerous, I can tell!" She wrung her hands. "It's some kind of flying snake and when he tried to catch it, it *spit* at him."

"Did it hit him?" Severus asked with interest, knowing immediately what the animal was, and that Harry would be very unhappy if his pet had actually hurt the groundskeeper.

"No, he was able to dodge, but it hit one of my oaks, the *four hundred year old* oaks, and burned a hole right through the trunk!" Sprout explained.

"Perhaps we should go check this out," Dumbledore pontificated. He led the other professors downstairs and out into the yard where there was, indeed, a green and red flying snake with pink and blue wings almost a blur as it hovered.

"I *see* that this is dangerous," Trelawny said breathlessly. "One of us will die if it is not taken care of, my inner eye has shown me this!"

Hagrid turned to look at the others surrounding him. "Isn't she beautiful? She jus' showed up. Do yeh think she'd like ter be my pet? She's so pretty, yes she is," he crooned.

The flying snake suddenly seemed to lose all interest in the half-giant and darted towards the massed professors. There were several screams as they all hurried to jump out of the way. Wands were pulled and pointed towards... the potions professor?

Severus was standing there as straight as ever, and the dangerous animal was now curled around his neck and shoulders. He was looking at it blankly.

"It's trying to strangle him!" one of the other teachers shouted.

"Don't be absurd," Severus sneered. "An Alaspinian minidrag shoots a neurotoxin that could kill a dragon in less than a minute if it hit the eyes. It is *not* a constrictor."

"Jus' stand still, professor, I'll get 'er off of yer," Hagrid moved forward carefully.

"That won't be necessary," he said dismissively. His hand flew up and grabbed the snake's head, causing massive gasps as he turned so he was face to fang with the minidrag. "The next time," he hissed, "you feel the need to run off, do him the courtesy of telling him you're leaving. He's been very worried about you." He wasn't sure how much the minidrag understood, but her drooping head and coils said she got the gist of it.

"Um... professor?" Hagrid looked at him in surprise, and maybe even a bit of hero-worship. "Is she... yers?"

"Certainly not," Snape said disdainfully.

"Then whose is she?" Dumbledore said carefully.

Snape's sneer was a thing of beauty. "She's Harry's of course," he said, as if it should have been obvious.

"Really?" Hagrid was the only one to seem happy with that idea. "Do yer think 'arry woul' bring 'er down ter see me? Maybe e'en show 'er to one of my classes?"

"I will pass on the request," was all Severus would say, before turning on his heel with a swirl of his robes and heading towards the dungeons where he knew Harry would be overjoyed to see her.

Flick still wouldn't tell him where she had been, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know; the smug feeling of her reply was really all the answer he needed.

Harry knew from Severus' tales that the entire faculty was now aware he was down here and kept wanting to see him. His father's reply of "he's grounded," wasn't going down too well. He shook his head, what did they think was going on? Maybe they thought he was being used for potions ingredients or made to test new potions or something. He would've thought that *someone* other than himself and the Malfoys would know the real Severus Snape. Especially these teachers that had been working with him for years.

Dumbledore had even come down and tried to get in, seeming to be surprised when he couldn't get through the wards. He had knocked on the painting and asked for permission to enter, but Harry had refused him. There was no way he was going to talk to the Headmaster by himself if he could possibly avoid it, and his grounding had made sure that he could.

He was missing Lucius desperately. School was not going to be fun, that was obvious. He was positive that he was going to be driven insane during the school year, when he'd only be able to see him once a month if he was lucky. Severus just smirked at him when he brought it up. It was *so* not fair.

His gaze wandered back to the report he was writing. He should be getting back to it, he was getting close to the end, only about fifteen years from the present, but he'd just written down his parents' names under having been killed after receiving a death threat and he couldn't really bring himself to concentrate on it anymore right then. He looked at the entrance to the room, hoping Severus would be walking through it soon. He could call Lucius, under the circumstances he was sure no one would care, but he didn't want his lover, he wanted his father.

Listlessly he got up and wandered over to pick up his photo album. Other pictures had been added to it since that first year when Hagrid gave it to him. Pictures from Remus, Sirius, even Severus who had had some pictures of his mum hidden away, had joined the ones already there. He didn't notice when Flick flew out of the room, through the aperture that had been added specifically for her use and charmed against everything else.

Mere minutes later, Severus walked into his sitting room, Flick wrapped around his neck. Although he couldn't understand Flick, having neither Parseltongue nor much empathy, the minidrag had ways of getting her point across. He saw the way Harry was sitting, melancholy and depression almost oozing from him and started to head towards him when the flying snake, hissing, led him to the report. She might not know exactly what was bothering her boy, but she knew it had something to do with this thing he'd been working on.

It took only seconds for Severus to read over what he'd been writing and understand the problem. Without any further delay he headed over. He wanted nothing more than to pull Harry into his arms and comfort him, but he couldn't, not yet. It was obvious that Harry didn't know he was there, and grabbing him without warning would do far more harm than good.

"Harry," he said softly.

Even as gentle and quiet as he was being, Harry jumped. He looked up, his eyes dark but dry. "They knew," he whispered. "They did everything right, but they died anyway, so what use is it?"

"If they hadn't gone into hiding, how much sooner would they have died?" Severus asked softly. He settled down on the couch and quickly, before he could move, picked his son up and placed him on his lap. There were many times he cursed the Dursleys, knowing Harry should be so much larger than he was, yet he couldn't help being happy that Harry fit so well into his arms, and he knew Lucius felt the same way.

Harry was stiff in his arms, but didn't try to get away. "You can't know that. Maybe being visible might have been better protection."

"Do you really believe that?" Severus asked softly.

Harry sighed, and all the strength seemed to go out of him as he practically collapsed in his father's arms. "No, I guess not. I can't help but wonder sometimes though. What if Voldemort had never gone after them? What if I'd grown up with them?"

"Well, for one thing you'd probably have been every bit the spoiled rotten brat I thought you were those first years," Severus informed him.

Harry huffed a laugh. "Maybe."

Severus became serious. "I tried," he murmured solemnly.

"I know," Harry responded immediately in understanding. "There are only two people I've ever blamed for their deaths, and both Pettigrew and Voldemort have paid." He looked down at a picture of the two of them holding a baby with startling green eyes. He ran his finger over it gently. "But I can't help but wonder what they'd think of the choices I've made, and hope they'd love me anyway. I also sometimes think, that if I had been raised by them, especially him, I'd never have been able to become friends with Draco, much less love you or Lucius. And that hurts. Because it feels like I had to give one up to get the other, and there was never any chance that I'd be able to have both."

"I disagree," Severus said softly. "As much as I disliked your father, I loved your mother, and she cared for me. We might not have had the relationship we have today, you and I, but she would not have approved of us hating each other either. As for Lucius... yes, that would have been a problem. I still have problems with it, I know Black and Lupin do as well, but if we all love you enough to let those go so that you can be happy, do you really believe your parents would not do the same?"

Looking down he watched as the answer settled into Harry's heart. A small, contented smile curled the edges of Harry's lips as he settled more deeply into his new fathers arms. And if a single crystalline tear meandered softly down one cheek, neither mentioned it.

"Do you want to go see Lucius tonight?" Severus asked gently.

Harry shook his head. "I'm fine, right where I am."


	26. Chapter 76 and 77

Short today, I know, I know. Only two parts and they're short ones at that. However, I didn't want to put five, and there's no real way I could break up the promise ceremony, so there you go. One short part today.

In other news... I've got a job! I am now officially a fourth grade teacher, and I am so unbelievably thrilled!

Part 76/?

The hall was dazzling in the light of the torches. Gold and jewels encrusted every inch of the walls, columns and ceiling of the large room. A lavishness echoed by the men and women both on the dance floor and seated at tables set about the room. Each trying to show, by the clothes and jewelry they were wearing, their worth and status. Some knew how to do it, those in whom it was inborn or those trained from the moment they were born with impeccable fashion sense and good taste; who could wear a gunnysack and make it look like the finest gown. Others however, far too many others, believed the secret was to wear the brightest colors possible, with the largest, most ostentatious jewelry available. Still others seemed to feel they were nothing but backdrops for their magic, wearing fairy lights and flashing jewels, with animals frolicking over their clothes as if it was a meadow.

Into this bright vista moved two flickers of darkness. A darkness surrounded by silence as it rippled out around them. They were the negative image of two flames surrounded by darkness, and just as all eyes move towards the only light in ever darkness, so did all eyes move towards the only dark in this too bright room. As light hypnotizes, so does darkness.

He was a tall imposing figure in classical, traditional black robes. The bottom opened as he walked to highlight sleek black trousers and black dragonhide boots. His white-blond hair was pulled back with a simple black velvet ribbon. The only color came from the silver buttons and the silver snake head on the cane he carried in one hand.

She was in a green so dark it would look black against any backdrop but that of her date. There was a nearly indistinguishable pattern picked out upon the cloth, shown only by the occasional sparkle the lights caused from the jet, black diamonds or metallic silver thread. The black pearls and black threads were more sensed than seen and only the occasional impression of the pattern was ever seen by others eyes. Her black hair was a riot of curls around her face, held back by only a slim silver ribbon, the rest rippling down her back in a cascade almost indistinguishable from the cloth it whispered against.

The two stopped in the middle of the room, not quite posing, but definitely making sure their appearance and presence was noticed. For an instant, total silence blanketed the room. Noise exploded quickly in its wake as those already there began to talk. Those who considered themselves important hurried, while trying to make it look as if they never hurried, to be the first to greet the new arrivals, interested in the identity of the one the Minister had brought to this ball.

A glance from the man's eyes caused the band to start playing and with a tilt of his head to his companion he led her out onto the dance floor. Most of the crowd watched, mesmerized, as the two moved in perfect sync around the ballroom floor. Their bodies wrote a poem as they floated together through the steps of the dance. Their eyes never left each other, completely sure that no one else would ever dare impede them as they drifted and swayed, commanding the dance floor as they had commanded the room upon their entrance.

The night passed with the two remaining the center of attention. They spoke to others only as much as necessary to be polite, their attention caught up in one another. They separated occasionally, he to be surrounded by those in his favor, or wishing to become so, she surrounded by bright and glittering wives and daughters. He was as he always was, calm and in control, powerful and forbidding. She was kind smiles, gentle words and an insurmountable will. When they had had enough of others, they moved together once more, becoming caught up in each others eyes and arms, spinning a web that drew others towards them, but only so far and no farther. No one was allowed to truly touch the perfection shining between these two, only watch and envy.

They kissed. The end of a dance, a meeting after a separation, even as short as those were. A brush of lips; something deeper. Those who thought they had a chance at him learned differently. Those who wished to go after her, never even bothered to try. They were together, a matched pair, so unlike each other, yet their pleasure and happiness in their companionship glowed brighter than any torch or magical light.

When they left, their dark forms merging with the darkness outside the doors, the room they left behind seemed immeasurably... less. All that was left was light. The room should have seemed so much brighter now that the only spots of darkness had left... but the torches didn't burn as brightly, the fairy lights and jewels didn't twinkle as merrily. The shine had left now that the darkness was gone.

Part 77/?

Harry came down the stairs to breakfast the next morning with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. Lucius followed behind him, not quite as obviously happy, but showing his contentment all the same. Draco and Severus were already at the table, looking over articles about the ball.

"Well, you two certainly made an impression," Severus said snidely. "You're pretty much all anyone talked about."

"Good things or bad things?" Harry asked, not really caring. Absolutely nothing would be able to get his mood down this morning.

"Mostly just wondering about your identity," Draco admitted.

"Even the Prophet didn't say much that could be considered bad," Severus handed over the paper and Lucius snagged it.

"Nothing I can sue them over, hmm?" Lucius muttered as he looked it over.

"Not even a word about her age," Severus agreed.

"What's with them anyway?" Harry asked. "Why do they hate you so much?"

"Actually, they dislike you just as much, but with you being invisible lately, it's a little hard to write anything, though they probably will soon," Draco said thoughtfully. "Not to mention you're too well liked right now."

"The owner is Fudge's cousin," Lucius explained. "It's part of the reason he got elected and kept his job for so long."

"What I wish to know," Severus said as Harry was digesting that fact, "is what are you going to do when you graduate? You've put a lot of effort into making sure no one would consider Harry and Jade to be the same person, as well as linking Lucius with Jade. So, if you're going to eventually marry Lucius, as Harry, what are you going to do about Jade?"

Harry looked at him wide-eyed. "That's... a good question."

"You mean you hadn't even thought about it?" Draco squeaked.

"Um... no?" Harry admitted, pink with embarrassment.

Once the others stopped ragging on Harry, Severus handed over their rings, the emerald to Harry and the sapphire to Lucius. He warned them to keep the rings with them at all possible times, letting them tune in to their own personal auras. Once the rings were tuned and the spells finished, they would switch them, giving them a link to each other. Lucius conjured a pair of silver chains and both of the engaged parties slipped the ring onto the chains and placed them around their necks.

They spent the day as a family, investigating some of the other hidden rooms in the Manor. This time one of them made sure to use detection spells on every room before entering and no one touched anything that showed up as spelled until it had been checked out. They almost lost Severus several times, especially at one of the workrooms that was set up as a Potions lab and had a connected storeroom. They had to promise he could come back whenever he wished to finally get him out of there.

Draco got stopped dead in one of the libraries. Who knew he was secretly interested in alchemy? There were several alchemic texts in that library that he'd only ever heard of, but never dreamed he'd be able to get his hands on. He had to be dragged away to continue the tour.

Lucius' undoing? History. One of the floors in the unknown tower was almost a museum. With ancient artifacts Lucius had never dreamed had been a part of his family. Then again, he thought, as he took a closer look at one of the pieces, the fact that they *weren't* originally the family's, might explain why they were hidden away in an invisible tower.

Harry smiled a little wistfully. He'd found several of the books interesting, and some of the artifacts intriguing, but unlike the others he didn't have an all-consuming interest. He had things that he liked of course, DADA, Quidditch, truth spells, but nothing that could drag him in like the others did. Well, nothing except Lucius of course, but that wasn't exactly the same thing. He found a book on animagi and pulled it down to look through it, stopping at one picture his eyes wide. It was half an hour later before someone came to get him.

"What's so interesting?" Draco asked, plopping down beside him.

Harry dragged his eyes away from the book long enough to flip back and show his friend the page.

"Wings while human?" Draco's eyes were wide. "You keep reading, I'm going to go look at the other books."

Both protested bitterly as they were pulled away from their research. Flying was one of both of their greatest joys. Flying on their own wings in their animagi forms was even better. But to have wings while human? To fly under their own power, using their own muscles, but still having their own senses? Surely it wasn't possible... but oh, if it was?

Severus laughed when he saw what they were looking at. "Trust me," he told them as he dragged them away, "neither of you are anything close to angels."

The room that was supposed to be outside they couldn't find and the map was no help. Whatever the room was, it was buried and had been for long enough that the site was indistinguishable from the land around it. Sure they could dig down and try to find out what it was, but it was getting late and not a single one wanted to do that amount of work right then.

The biggest shock of the day however, didn't come from the map. It wasn't something in a room, or something in the newspapers. Instead, it was Flick.

While they were outside, Flick started herding them around to the far edge of the garden. The only thing Harry could get from her was a feeling of excitement and trepidation. They reached the edge of the garden and found an overgrown greenhouse. Obviously it had originally been used to grow tropical plants that later generations didn't care about and so had left them to die off. They didn't. They had flourished and spread. There were small trees growing in the middle of the greenhouse and vines growing up the sides.

/Why are we here?/ Harry asked. He suddenly jerked around as he felt... /Hello?/ he called out.

"What is it?" Lucius asked, having seen his abrupt movement.

"I thought... I felt..." Harry muttered incoherently, still staring into the greenhouse.

Lucius' answer came from that same place. Flying out from inside the greenhouse... was an Alaspinian minidrag. His first thought was that it was much larger than Harry's pet.

Everyone was utterly still as the larger flying snake hovered in front of the four of them then settled around Severus' shoulders. "Um... Harry?" Severus said softly.

Harry was still staring into the greenhouse. As if in answer to his stare, more minidrags came flying out. Two, three, four...

"Harry?" Draco was the one asking this time as the unknown, very lethal, flying snakes hovered around them.

Harry moved forward and started talking. Hissing came from seven different directions. Finally everything seemed to settle down. Harry turned around to look at Lucius. "They didn't get along with the rest of their nest," he explained. "They're from Flick's old nest and pretty much just followed her out here since they knew she was searching for her person." He pointed towards the greenhouse. "They really like this place, it's very warm. They'll be glad to help with the defenses of the Manor if you allow them to live here in peace."

"Considering no one has used this place in generations, I have no problem with it as long as they don't harm any of the people or animals that live here." Lucius told him. He really didn't see that he had much choice, who or what did he have that could get rid of half a dozen Alaspinian minidrags? Without getting themselves killed in the process anyway? Besides, they could be useful. And since Flick belonged to Harry, getting her mad at him was likely to get Harry mad at him.

After Harry spoke to them, the last four minidrags hovered in front of Lucius, almost seeming to bow before flitting back into the greenhouse.

"What about this one?" Severus asked, motioning to the large snake still wrapped around him.

Harry blushed slightly. "That's Flick's mate. He's the one she disappeared to be with last week. He knows that I'm going to be living far away and that you live there too, so he wants to go with you. He says that while you don't have enough empathy to link with him, your emotions are easy enough for him to live with. You're not as... cold as Lucius and Draco." He hastened to reassure his lover. "Not that you're cold, it's just the way your emotions feel to them." He turned back to his father. "If you really have a problem with him, just tell him. I'll take him with me and we can find someone else for him to pair up with."

"Why does he have to be with anyone?" Draco asked with interest.

"Don't forget, they're empaths," Harry reminded them. "That's why you'll hardly ever see one by himself. They need to either be with a group of minidrags, or linked with another empathic person. Since..." he thought for a moment. "I guess it translates best as Spitfire. His name means something like 'he who spits a venom hotter than fire'. Anyway, since Spitfire is mated to Flick who's linked to me, if he could stay with us, he'd be fine, but there's no way I'd be able to get away with having two of them. Flick is the one that suggested he could stay with you while she was busy with me. You have enough emotions that he feels comfortable, but very rarely loose control of them." He shrugged, knowing he wasn't explaining this well. "He just likes the way you feel." He finally settled for.

Later, Harry was curled up against Lucius. Severus was talking to Flick and Spitfire with Salazar translating as best he could. He couldn't get all of the nuances, since minidrags used empathy to add extra emphasis and levels. Unsurprisingly, the portrait couldn't hear that part. They still managed fairly well, leaving Harry free to talk with his lover.

A lot of talking went on that week. A lot of other things went on as well. Neither of them could forget that Harry would be heading off to school in little more than a week. Lucius still had to go into work and spent most of the first day refusing to answer questions about his ball date from the way he told it. When he came home the three or four of them, depending on if Severus was there or not, would eat dinner together. Lucius also made sure to spend some time with Draco every day, refusing to give up that relationship for his new one.

The true nights however, belonged to Harry and Lucius, and at least half that time was spent simply talking. Curled up together on their bed or in Lucius' chair in his study, they talked about everything they thought and hoped and had lived through, even those parts of their pasts they had never spoken of before.

Finally, it was the day they had waited for. The promise ceremony.


	27. Chapter 78, 79 and 80 the end!

And done! With this one of course. Beyond Expectations will start on Thursday!

I want to thank everyone who commented, and everyone who just read without commenting! I'm glad you kept coming back. I know the concept isn't for everyone, and it's sometimes surprising how many people understand Harry/Jade and can see it once they start to read, so thank you for giving it a chance. Part of 79... most of it actually, was cut out. Duh, it was their wedding night after all!

Beyond Expectations (which will have it's first part out on Thursday), adds mpreg to the mix as Sixth Year gets underway. Hope to see you there!

78/?

There were many ways the day could have gone. Because promise ceremonies were used in so many different ways, there was not a set formula. There were usually two items, charmed to tell if the other has broken the terms of the contract. There was usually a contract to be signed and witnesses to sign it.

For the promise ceremony of Lucius Malfoy and Harry Snape, the possibilities were endless. They could sign the contract, switch the rings, say the spells and be done with it. They could have an elaborate ceremony with lots of flowers and lace, lots of people, officials and pomp.

But neither of those were Lucius and Harry.

There were flowers, not dying away to nothing after this use but vibrant and alive surrounding the nine people who were either participating or witnessing the ceremony in the middle of the conservatory.

There was no lace in sight but everyone was dressed in their best, all but two in dress robes. Hermione was in a deep blue dress while Harry was dressed in a classically cut black suit with an emerald green shirt with an upstanding collar and a jeweled button cover instead of a tie.

Lucius and Harry were standing within a circle of their friends and family, though to Harry it was painfully obvious it was mostly *his* friends and family. Also in the middle was a small table with a blank piece of parchment and a quill ready to write. They had decided against a prewritten contract, instead the pen would write out their vows as spoken and that would be the contract they signed.

Severus and Draco had carefully taken the rings from around Harry and Lucius' necks and were holding them, ready for them to be needed.

There was no one officiating at the ceremony, there was no need. This was between the people standing there, no one else.

Draco looked at his father, a gentle smile hiding in his expression. It was good to see his father happy, and there was no doubt his father *was* happy. Some of the others might have problems telling it, but he knew his father very well. Draco himself was very happy. The most important person in his life was getting married to another of his favorite people, and unlike his father's last marriage, he had chosen this himself. And he, Draco, was instrumental in these two getting together. He wasn't even losing his father to this new relationship. What could be better? At least until he found a relationship of his own.

Sirius kept a glare off of his face with the greatest of efforts. If it wasn't for the fact his godson looked so bloody happy he'd grab him and run out of here. And if it wasn't for the fact he wouldn't get more than a foot away before he'd be hexed beyond all recognition. He thought of his best friend and his wife and what they would have thought of this... this... travesty. But he'd lost the right to say anything when he didn't fight harder to get to know his godson. The least he could do was be here, and at least try to look happy. Regardless of his real feelings.

Remus knew exactly what was going through his best friends mind. He had to admit he wondered about this pairing himself. However, while he remembered the baby that was almost all Sirius knew of Harry, he also remembered the thirteen year old he had spent almost a year teaching. Even then he'd been mature for his age, searching for someone he could trust. If he had finally found that, how could Remus say anything except congratulations?

Ron watched everyone around him wonderingly, trying to keep from pulling at the collar of his robes. He still didn't understand. How could Harry choose a Malfoy? Sure, maybe Malfoy Jr. wasn't as much of a prat as he used to think he was, but still, there was no doubt that the older one had originally been a Death Eater, and still wanted to control the world. Just because he didn't seem to kill a lot of people to do it, didn't mean that he was all that much better than old You-Know-Who, did it? He sighed silently. But it wasn't his choice, was it? The only choice he really had was whether he was going to accept this and keep his best friend, or raise a stink and take a chance on losing him. And he'd already made that choice.

Hermione couldn't believe how good Ron was being about this. She'd expected a lot more yelling from her hot-headed boyfriend, but he seemed to be accepting it fairly well. She had thought she'd have more of a problem with it, not the man-man stuff, since her parents truly weren't discriminatory and had raised her to be the same way, but the sixteen year old with the much older man. She'd heard all the stories about pedophiles and the like. But she'd seen no signs of something like that here. Mr. Malfoy didn't seem to care about Harry's age, except that she'd heard he was a little worried about Harry being too young as well. Still, Harry had always seemed older than the rest of his yearmates. And he was happy, and if she was his friend, which she was, than that should be all that mattered.

Blaise watched everyone carefully. His first true love was marrying another! He laughed to himself at his grandiose thoughts, carefully hiding it from everyone else. Yes, Harry was a crush, but he certainly wasn't a true love. He would have liked to have had a chance with the black haired boy, but it didn't happen. He wasn't going to cry about it, but just be happy for his friend. And never, ever get on the bad side of Lucius Malfoy. Ever.

Severus watched with a fond look as his new son almost vibrated in place. It was so light he doubted anyone else, except perhaps Lucius, knew it was happening, but Harry was definitely moving slightly up and down on the balls of his feet. He admitted to himself that he would be a lot more unhappy about this if it was a real marriage. Harry had only had his name for a couple of weeks, he didn't want to think of losing that link between them already. The fact that Harry would be with him at the school helped as well. He was allowing this because Harry wanted it so badly and he trusted Lucius to take care of his son, but he was very glad that he'd still have the time with his new child.

The sun was right above them, shining down through the glass ceiling. It was time.

Lucius pulled out his wand and turned to his son. Carefully, trying to touch it as little as possible, Draco placed the ring he had taken from around his father's neck and placed it on the wand, moving it to the middle. Lucius smiled at Draco before turning towards his lover.

Lucius took a long look at the man in front of him. This was it. He found himself caught up in the bright green eyes staring lovingly back at him. He didn't think he'd ever seen his love looking happier than he was at that particular moment. He himself could think of few moments that could possibly match his feelings right here and now. It was very rare that he had ever found himself so truly, purely happy, and only two people had ever managed to give that feeling to him. One was in front of him, and the other in back. He smiled at his fiancé as he held his wand out towards the black haired man in front of him.

Harry placed his hand over the ring and Lucius covered his with his own as he began to speak.

"I, Lucius Damien Ares Matthias Nostrium Malfoy, do vow to you Harry James Potter Snape these things:

To cherish and protect you, without smothering or constraining you

To cleave only unto you

To accept your family, to be your family, to give you a family

To be honest with you in word and deed

To know you for who you are and see beyond what others see

To give you a place where you need be nothing but yourself

To be discreet because others would not understand"

His voice deepened a little.

"To love you until you have no choice but to accept the fact that I do

And to teach you, by word and action, that there is such a thing as forever, and that it is the one thing, above all else, you deserve."

Lucius let his magic flow through both his wand and the hand above it, pouring down through Harry's hand and into the ring below it as he continued to speak.

"Before this company assembled here, I swear to keep these promises for at the least a year and a day."

When the magic finally finished, Harry raised his hand and Lucius carefully pulled the ring off of his wand.

"Will you accept this ring and with it these promises and myself?" Lucius asked carefully.

"I will, gladly," Harry answered, his voice choked although his eyes were still clear, bright and shining.

Lucius carefully placed the ring on the ring finger of Harry's left hand, then raised it to his mouth and kissed it reverently.

They simply stood there for a long moment, Harry's fingers brushing against Lucius' cheek as they stared into each others eyes. They only separated when Severus gently cleared his throat.

Harry brushed lightly, but reluctantly pulled his hand away and pulled out his wand. When the emerald ring was on the middle of his wand, he turned back to his almost husband. Lucius put his hand over the ring and Harry covered it.

This was it. Oh good Merlin, this was it. He was going to be married! He was going to be married to Lucius Malfoy! How did he ever get so lucky? He couldn't believe things were going his way like this. He'd cheated a little. He'd asked Flick to show him what Lucius was feeling that morning, sure that he would be having second thoughts or wondering what he was getting into. But he hadn't. Sure there'd been a little bit of anxiety, but not nearly as much as he himself was feeling. And that feeling he'd felt from him before, that warm all-encompassing feeling, it was still there and just as strong if not stronger. He still had a hard time believing it was what he thought it might possibly be. But, if he was going to marry him, he kind of had to believe that they loved each other, didn't he?

He suddenly realized Lucius was looking at him worriedly. Probably afraid he'd changed his mind since he'd been quiet for so long. That was never going to happen.

He smiled reassuringly at the older man and started to speak.

"I, Harry James Potter Snape, do promise you, Lucius Damian Ares Matthias Nostrium Malfoy these things:

To be truthful, even about what I feel

To be faithful, body, heart and soul

To be your equal and stand beside you against all others

To give you the benefit of the doubt and not jump to conclusions

To understand and accept both the dark and the light of you

To not let my past destroy our future

To make my friends and family yours, as you have made yours mine

To keep this a secret until we're ready for the world to know"

He hesitated for a moment then continued strongly.

"And to love you above all others, as you love me."

Upon those words, Harry sent his magic out, linking it into the ring through his love's hand and his own wand as the spells set into the prepared vessel.

"Before our friends and family gathered here, I vow these things for a year and a day and beyond."

Lucius removed his hand and Harry took the ring off of his wand.

"Will you accept this ring and with it my promises and myself?" Harry asked softly.

"I will," Lucius answered immediately.

Harry gently slipped the ring onto Lucius' hand and as his lover had done, raised the hand up to kiss the ring. There hands still clasped, they turned away from each other to face the circle around them.

"Will you witness this promise and wish us well?" Lucius asked.

"We will!" Everyone practically roared back.

Lucius and Harry smiled at the beloved ones around them before turning back to each other. They were about to kiss when Draco interrupted them. "Sign it first," he hissed, "or you'll get too caught up in each other to remember to do it."

Harry started to chuckle while Lucius shot a half-hearted glare at his son, but they did as instructed, turning back to the table and the busily writing quill. Breaking the enchantment on the writing implement, Lucius took it up and signed his name before handing it to his new husband. Harry quickly did the same, taking the time only to be sure it was his best handwriting and so at least semi-legible. As the others moved forward to sign as witnesses, Harry and Lucius drifted together. Their mouths fused together in a deep and tender kiss, their first kiss as husband and husband.

Part 79/80?

Harry and Lucius stayed with their guests only long enough to make a show at being polite, before heading upstairs.

As the door of Lucius' bedroom closed behind them, Harry turned to look his love in the face. This was it, what he'd been waiting for. He was excited, apprehensive, and very, very turned on. Looking around he noticed what looked like champagne chilling in an ice bucket off to one side. Hopefully it would keep cold for a while, since he had no intention of wasting his time with anything that wasn't his husband right then and there.

Harry swarmed up Lucius' body until he could reach his mouth. This was one time when he really cursed his short height. It was going to be difficult to do everything he wanted without letting go of Lucius' mouth, but he was more than game enough to try.

He held on with his legs, and a lot of help from his lover, as his hands went to work on the buttons of Lucius' dress robes. His mouth roamed over the planes of the blonde's face, placing kisses wherever he could reach. He looked down in surprise as he felt bare flesh underneath his hands, where he had expected a shirt. Obviously the older man had decided to forgo that formality, and Harry couldn't be more pleased.

Lucius found himself just holding on. He wanted to get to work on Harry's clothes, but both of his hands were needed to keep the young man from falling. Not that any reason to hold Harry's ass could possibly be a bad one. He didn't know what had gotten into his lover, he had never been quite this aggressive before, but he couldn't say that he was unhappy. Harry obviously had plans, and who was he to complain?

Harry stopped sucking on the tasty neck he had found as he finally let his legs slip down. More of Lucius' chest was available to explore and that's what he planned on doing.

Lucius instantly missed the warmth of Harry's legs wrapped around him and the feel of his buns in his hands, but didn't let that dissuade him. Now that his hands were free, he started to work on Harry's cufflinks. It was a little difficult considering Harry didn't want to remove his hands from their investigation of his husband's musculature, but he finally managed to get the suit jacket off.

Harry's mouth followed where his hands had already led, while those self-same hands took on more buttons. Lucius' hands clenched in the fabric of Harry's shirt as Harry's mouth found one of his nipples and worried at it. Lucius moaned as Harry moved to the other nipple, but managed to get enough control over himself to start working on the buttons of the shirt he was very close to tearing off.

Lucius managed to get Harry's shirt off at about the same time Harry had opened enough buttons that he could push Lucius' robes off of his shoulders. Once he stepped out of the pooled robe, they were both standing there in just their pants and shoes. Harry quickly kicked his shoes off and Lucius followed his example.

Harry hesitated before he swarmed at his mate once more. "You do want this, right?" he asked breathlessly.

Lucius raised an eyebrow, caught up one of his lover's hands, and placed it on the proof that he did indeed want this. "What do you think?"

"Oh, good," Harry responded and grinned as he jumped at him again.

Lucius started slowly backing away from the green-eyed devil stalking him. He wasn't trying to get away, just move enough... there. Harry followed after, knowing where he was going and waiting until he reached the edge of the bed before jumping him and pushing him down onto the comforter.

It took the younger boy only a moment to realize this was much, much better. He didn't have to worry about reaching anywhere. He sat there for a moment, just looking. "Well?" Lucius asked, wondering what his lover was planning now.

Harry just smiled and moved up to where he could catch Lucius' mouth once again. They kissed for a long, long moment and then Harry lay across Lucius' chest, just reveling in the fact that he was there. He stared into Lucius' storm blue eyes. "I love you," he whispered.

Lucius raised his hand to run it down Harry's much shorter hair and then up farther to trace the scar that was once more obvious on his forehead. "I love you too," he murmured back.

Harry bent down to kiss him again. "Thank you," he said softly, laying kisses over his cheekbones. All the aggression seemed to have left him, and his actions were gentle, worshipful.

"Whatever for?" Lucius frowned slightly.

"For loving me, for taking care of me... for marrying me," Harry answered.

"Believe me Harry, it is very much my pleasure," Lucius smiled softly. Lucius decided to take some control since Harry seemed to have given it up and went to push Harry over onto his back.

Harry wasn't having any of that. He pushed himself up, and placed his hands on Lucius' shoulders to force him back down. "Uh, uh, you're mine tonight."

"Well, I figured, since you weren't doing anything..." Lucius let his words trail away, delighted by the flame that appeared in Harry's eye.

Harry growled and pounced.

It was almost three hours before they got to the champagne.

Part 80/80

The room was dark, the only sound came from the breathing of the two men in the bed. The larger one was laying on his back, while the smaller one was curled up on his left side with his head laying on the other's shoulder. Green eyes were open and staring off into the distance. The only movement was the blinking of his eyes, the rising and falling of their chests as they breathe and the slow rubbing of a thumb against a ring band.

How was he going to do this? He couldn't do this! How could he leave? What did he need school for anyway? He was Harry Potter! Well, Harry Snape now, but still. As if he'd ever have trouble finding a job even if he wasn't independently wealthy or if his husband wasn't one of the richest wizards alive. "I don't *have* to go back to school," he muttered almost silently.

Obviously not silently enough. "Yes, you do," Lucius answered from beside him.

"Why?" Harry almost whined, only slightly surprised that the older man was awake. He turned over on Lucius' chest so he could look at him in the face. There was just enough light coming through the bedcurtains to make out the major planes of his face.

"Besides the fact that your father would kill me slowly if you didn't," Lucius answered solemnly, bringing up a hand to pet through Harry's shoulder length hair, "there's the fact that you need to graduate to be able to do magic in public, not to mention you wouldn't get to see all your friends, including Severus and you'd probably have to hide out for the rest of your life. And what about all of the younger ones who look up to you and would drop out just because you did? You don't really want to drop out of school, do you?"

Harry thought about it. Not going back to school and dropping out sounded like two totally different things with totally different connotations. No, he didn't want to drop out, he wasn't a quitter. And he'd miss his friends and the time he was going to get to spend with his father, but he didn't want to leave either. In the past month, Malfoy Manor had become far more of a home than the Dursley's ever had been. And Lucius... Merlin, the thought of losing Lucius tore at his heart. He'd known going into the relationship that it was going to happen, but he'd really had no true concept of how much it was going to hurt.

"No," he admitted out loud. "Not really. But I don't know if I can do it, seeing you only once a month."

"Well, we might get to see each other a bit more than that," Lucius said in a conspiring voice.

Harry looked at the face he could see much more clearly now as the room was lighting up with morning sunlight. "What do you mean?"

Lucius just smiled and kissed his husband deeply. "That, my love, is a surprise. Now come on, we promised we'd have a family breakfast this morning, remember?"

Harry sighed and slowly got up. "That's just because we haven't gotten out of bed before noon the last couple of days," he complained.

Three hours later, it was time to leave for the train station. Lucius took that moment to hug his son one last time before pulling Harry into a long kiss while Draco looked on smiling. Their real good-byes had been said the night before. "Take care of each other," he reminded them.

"You too father," Draco said. "Don't go overworking now that Harry isn't nearby to distract you."

Harry blushed as he glared at his friend.

"He can still blush?" Draco asked in mock-surprise. "You're obviously doing something wrong, father, he should be completely debauched by now."

Harry took his wildly blushing face through the Floo, knowing the other two wouldn't be coming for a couple of minutes in order to make it look as if they weren't coming from the same place. Flick was curled belt-like around his waist and it was doubtful anyone who didn't know about her would understand what she was. Harry set off to find his friends.

The first one he saw was a bushy haired girl with a trunk, a cat and a very familiar white owl. "Hermione!" he called. He ran over to where she had stopped. "Hedwig! How are you girl? I've missed you."

"Oh how nice, you missed her, but not me?" Hermione teased gently.

Harry grinned as he hugged his friend. "I just saw you a couple of days ago," he reminded her. "I haven't seen Hedwig since the beginning of the summer. Let's go ahead and get on. I need to introduce Hedwig and Flick before the others show up."

Once the delicate process of introducing a snake to an owl was through, Harry looked out the window at the crowd. Hermione watched his smiling face fade into melancholy and decided to distract him. "That whole promise ceremony was beautiful," she said. "I wasn't able to find much information about it though... was it an engagement ceremony, or a wedding, or what?"

Harry found himself smiling once more. The question was so Hermione. "It really depends on intent," he explained. "In our case, it's a marriage. A limited marriage, yes, but a marriage. And limited only in the time it's good for, it's for a year and a day, not til death do us part... yet. The only reason, as far as I was concerned, that we used it instead of a wedding is because a wizarding marriage creates a bond between each others magic and so it's not allowed while I'm at Hogwarts."

"I see," Hermione said thoughtfully. "You said 'as far as your concerned', does that mean he has a different reason?"

"Not really," Harry admitted. "He still occasionally starts to think I'm too young or I'll outgrow us, but I've got two years to prove him different."

The conversation was curtailed by the entrance of Neville and Thyme into the compartment and switched over to his recent adoption. By the time Draco, Blaise, Ron and Ginny joined them they were in the middle of a rousing argument over their ideas about the new Defense teacher. The boys joined in gleefully while Ginny just sat with her head down. Thyme and Hermione slowly dropped out of the discussion and went over to talk to her, slowly dragging her into the conversation. Harry smiled at them, making sure the others saw. He didn't have any problem with Ginny... as long as she wasn't obsessed with him. She was still his best friend's little sister, and he didn't like seeing her as gloomy as she was when she got on. He knew that as long as he was fine with it, the others would be as well. Hopefully they could go back to what *he* had considered their relationship.

He turned to look out the window, letting the discussion go on without him. The next two years weren't going to be easy. There were going to be people who were unhappy about the choices that he had made, there was whoever had been sending the death threats, there was Dumbledore. But there were also the people in this compartment. There was his father, Severus, his lover, Lucius and his godfathers Sirius and Remus. With their support he had defeated Voldemort, with their support he could beat anything necessary to have the life that he wanted and had dreamed of. And nothing would get in his way.

At the school, Severus waited impatiently. Sometimes he still found it hard to believe, the relationship that Slytherin's Head and the pride of Gryffindor had managed to create. He'd long since given up the idea of having a family, sure that his duties and responsibilities made it impossible. Now he had one, and if it was far different than he'd ever considered, that just made it more real.

Dumbledore was up to something, although Severus wasn't sure just yet exactly what that was. He'd heard some talk of everyone continuing to use Harry Potter, that using Snape would just confuse people. He hadn't said anything in response to that, but his son had already told him that he was going to refuse to answer to Potter. It would be interesting to see who outstubborned who. Harry, after all, was extremely stubborn.

Lucius was working at the Ministry. He didn't want to go home to the emptiness of the Manor. Even with the surprise Harry didn't know about yet, it was going to be a very long ten months.

The summer was over, Year Six about to begin.

The End of Jade Green Eyes


	28. AN

Quick Authors Note...

The first section of Beyond Expectations has been posted. Hope to see you there!


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